Section D

From Mel Gussow’s Review in the NY Times (October 15, 1975)

Section D in the Wiwacary rehabilitation home for boys is a closed society. A tough youth oddly nicknamed “Kitty” is the leader of the pack and any stray step, even a nod of welcome to a newcomer, is an infraction of his law and subject to punishment. The fact is that Kitty is far more of a disciplinarian than the officer in charge of the section—who is demanding but humane.

Into this knife‐edge existence comes Martin Williams, an equally tough but sympathetic youngster who strikes up a friendship with another outsider, the butt of all jokes an overweight teenager called Fats. Early in his new play. “Section D” (at the Henry Street Settlement’s New Federal Theater), Reginald Vel Johnson clearly sets the polarities—and then sends his characters smashing against one another.