S. Epatha Merkerson takes the stage as Lola Delaney in Michael Pressman's modestly affecting revival of William Inge's Come Back, Little Sheba, now at Manhattan Theatre Club's Biltmore Theatre, with three strikes already against her -- at least for those audiences familiar with this landmark 1950 drama.

First -- and to some foremost -- she is an African-American woman playing a role clearly meant for a white performer. Inge did not write a drama about interracial marriage -- nor is such a union likely in the play's time period. Further, nothing in Pressman's production ever acknowledges Merkerson's race.

Second, Merkerson doesn't physically fit Inge's description of Lola -- the one-time "[...]