To be quite honest, I haven’t cared much for Jenifer Nii’s playwriting until now. Of the three short pieces I’ve seen, I thought one had much jargon, one was too vague, and one took an abstract approach to a topic that I was hoping to see explored in a literal way. So it’s all the more remarkable then, that “Fire,” her half of Plan-B Theatre’s 85-minute play, “Wallace,” is so luminous. 

Actor Carleton Bluford is a force of nature as Harlem Renaissance writer Wallace Thurman. He enters by leaping onto a table, and the dynamism doesn’t stop, whether he’s dancing the Charleston or simply letting his eyes sparkle.

Richard Scharine, who plays environmentalist writer Wallace Stegner in Debora Threedy’s half of the script (“Where I Come From”), has some nice moments, too, provoking deep silence at the description of an injured colt, and laughter when imitating what it was like to dry off after a dip in a pond. The language Threedy chose to incorporate about Stegner's love for his wife was very moving as well, particularly a phrase about how he built up armor and she undressed him again, and another about what he found looking into her eyes.

But it was Bluford who made the room come alive; he pulled us into the ailing Thurman’s world with charisma and coughing. Whether shouting “Oh, Harlem!” like a declaration of love, or bending over the table slightly and curling his lip as he said “fornicating,” he had an easy genuineness that took us all along for the ride.

So vivid was Nii’s description, through Bluford, of a party Thurman hosted at his black writers’ haven, “Niggerati Manor,” that I could almost feel the intoxication. And I wanted more. More of Nii’s sparkling lines about clarion calls, and more of Bluford’s infectious enthusiasm. 

The interweaving of the two Wallace stories was an interesting concept, and it was spliced together logically, with Stegner's talk of his domineering father interrupted by Thurman's reminiscing about his mother's encouragement. The few times they addressed each other came when they were talking about their feelings for the state of Utah — the only thing they truly shared.

But as long as they were occupying the same space, they obliged each other by contributing lines of dialogue as some of the other characters in one another's stories. It was an effective technique that added interest and integration without confusion, thanks to clear lighting design by Cory Thorell and, of course, spot-on directing by Jerry Rapier (who was also responsible for the interweaving of Nii's and Threedy's scripts). 

For all that, I’d still like to see Nii expand her work into a full-length play about Thurman and the Harlem Renaissance. I want to see more of that world.

Someone also needs to give Carleton Bluford a real triple-threat role, stat. His dancing was one of my favorite things about “The Music Man” at The Egyptian Theatre in 2008, and he sounded fantastic singing with his band at Club Jam a few weeks ago. “Wallace” gives us some tantalizing hints at his abilities in these areas, but when you add in his acting ability...man, he'd be a powerhouse as a lead in a musical.

If you want to say you saw him before he made it big (and see the rest of the talented work that makes up "Wallace"), you'd best hop to it...there are something like four tickets left in the rest of the run.