Beaty plays six characters, all male: Eric, a boy who loves science and tries to mix an herbal iced-tea cure-all; Mr. Rodgers, his father, who struggles to keep the family herb business alive; a dyslexic 20-year-old dropout who finally graduated and will attend Morehouse College; Isaac, a corporate executive who mentors the younger man; Bishop, Isaac’s father, a minister and diabetic who rejects his gay son; and Dre, an ex-con who is looking for a second chance. Moving to different locations on the stage to signal character changes, and using identifying gestures and voices, Beaty creates complete personalities full of desire, grief, and joy.
He mixes observations on morality with frequent and often bawdy comedy. As their lives intertwine, Beaty emphasizes the strong women who support them. “Fewer men would be in prison,” he says, “if they saw good role models up close.” He notes that “failure is worse than aiming low.” The diabetic preacher cries that “vegan doesn’t even sound tasty.” When one man fears losing his baby, he describes his sorrow in striking terms: “twin towers collapse on my chest.” Looking at these characters and the many others who are lost in anguish and injustice, he cries, “How do broken people love each other?”
This play is about the courage to follow your dreams and the wisdom to choose responsible dreams in the first place. The young boy’s death, his sacrifice, strings all these stories together. It’s the hope of a child to cure black male despair, a hopelessness born from racism, poverty, self-doubt, imprisonment, and ultimately slavery. Through it all, Beaty sings a grace note, makes an offering, that through all this difficulty and frustration we might come together in love. Whether this maturity of vision and generosity of spirit can carry forth into the world is our responsibility; of this, Beaty is a living example.
Posted by Dusty Hoesly

But while the portrayal of these characters is witty and charmingly earnest, and the interlocking of their individual stories quite clever, the stories themselves could use some work. The beginning introduces each character with a blunt name/age/relationship format that might have better been communicated with Beaty’s acting skills throughout the stories than outright explained at the beginning. The ending, in which the characters are simultaneously healed through a mystical, Christian experience, was also a bit awkward, and seemed a bit rushed. I think it might have worked better if some of the mystical elements made brief appearances throughout the production, instead of storming in full force at the very end.
To be fair, this was a pared down show, and some of the issues may have been the result of a quick transition from a full cast play to a one man show, and, in any case, “Resurrection” is still a moving, powerful production that, despite some of its clumsy elements, showcases a skilled actor with real talent, and no shortage of ambition.
-by Abe Ingle