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Charles Fuller's Zooman and the Sign provides a chilling reminder about the violence and hopelessness that haunted the poorest neighborhoods of America's cities in the late 1970s. Fuller's play, which opened last night at Signature Theatre Company and concludes the organization's season dedicated to work developed and produced originally by the Negro Ensemble Company, may no longer pack the sort of emotional punch that it had when it premiered, but this portrait of a Philadelphia family coping with the loss of its youngest member nevertheless proves to be a moving experience.

Set in and around the inner city house (scenic designer Shaun Motley ably puts their comfortable interior within the crumbling neighborhood) that the Tates have called home for nearly 20 years, Fuller's play details what happens after Zooman (Amari Cheatom) shoots Jinny Tate as she plays jacks one afternoon on the stoop of the family home. As Jinny's parents, Rachel (Rosalyn Coleman) and Reuben (Evan Parke), and teenage brother Victor (Jamal Mallory-McCree) attempt to make sense of the killing, they must also cope with their anger at the unprovoked violence and their neighbors' unwillingness to help police investigate the crime. Interspersed with the scenes involving the family are monologues from Zooman who describes not only this crime but others as he continues to prowl the streets which he calls home.

Although Victor learns from Russell (a shrewd turn from W. Tré Davis), a school pal, that there are rumors that the bullet that killed Jinny was fired by Zooman, there's no concrete evidence and there are no witnesses, despite the fact that Rachel saw many of her neighbors on the street when she herself came out after the shot. Enraged, Reuben hangs a sign on the family's front porch blaming the community for allowing the killer or killers to go free.

Fuller's play not only explores the wide range of emotions that flare following Jinny's murder, but also the ways in which people accept responsibility for their actions. Zooman, arrogantly amoral and almost willful in his street-smart stupidity (traits all brought to life vividly by Cheatom), finds it easy to blame his victim who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Reuben, an ex boxer, and his uncle Emmett (Ron Canada) find it difficult to accept the fact that not only can they not become vigilantes and hunt the killer or killers down themselves, but also that the community as a whole is unwilling to assist in the police investigation. Similarly, the community as a whole begins to protest Reuben's sign, feeling that it casts a bad light on African-Americans as a group.

As Fuller couples these thematic elements of the play with the nearly overwhelming grief that plagues the family which already was in crisis because of Reuben's philandering, it's nearly impossible to not be touched by the play. Concurrently, there's a curious sense of datedness to "Zooman," which, though once crushingly immediate, has become less intensely timely as inner city violence has diminished.

Nevertheless, the production, directed solidly by Stephen McKinley Henderson, features an array of splendidly observed performances, particularly from the actresses. Coleman delivers a powerful turn as grief-stricken, but still fiery, Rachel. Lynda Gravatt and Portia are play two of Rachel's friends with sensitivity and comic flair. Their work is heartfelt as is much of the writing in "Zooman," and it's this emotion that carries audiences through the piece which opens a window to a sad chapter of our not-so-distant past.

---- Andy Propst

Zooman and the Sign plays at Signature Theatre Company (555 West 42nd Street). Performances are Tuesday at 7pm; Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm; and Saturday and Sunday at 2pm. Tickets and further information are available online at www.signaturetheatre.org.