slave play
“Yes, and this country will either cease its injustice or it will slowly fall to ruin. Leave it while you can.” – Nat Turner The encounter between Nat Turner (played with a powerful morally ambiguous core by Phillip James Brannon), Thomas R. Gray (played with a palpable malicious intent by Rowan Vickers), and the Guard (also played by Mr. Vickers)…
For the 22nd consecutive year, New York-based and nationally recognized Pastor Rev. David K. Brawley of East New York’s St. Paul Community Baptist Church, presents The MAAFA: “Speaking The Truth.” The theatrical production recognizes and reflects the journey of African slaves to America from 1500-1900. Attracting more than 3,000 people every year, the play follows the journey of more than…
“General Butler, you are fighting a war because some men saw things differently from some other men.” – Shepard Mallory Based on true events, Richard Strand’s scintillating “Butler,” currently playing at 59E59 Theaters as part of the successful 5A Series, addresses issues of systemic racism extant in the Civil War Era and in the present – racism that threatens the…
No matter how diligently humankind attempts to “reap angels,” the presumed effects of “The Fall” not only carry forward into the present but subvert any attempt for a successful journey “on to perfection” (John Wesley). “Angel Reapers” – currently running at the Pershing Square Signature Center – is a theological and psychological tour de force that exposes the underbelly of…
“What hope is there for an escape from evil?” (Nick Chopper) “The Woodsman,” the new theater piece by James Ortiz, is inspired by the back story of the “Tin Man” before Dorothy arrives in Oz and is adapted from the beloved writings of L. Frank Baum. It is an inventive, magical journey empowered to be told with sparse dialogue, beautiful…
“Communism, like General Motors, is people.” The above is an important reminder shared by a psychology professor to this reviewer many years ago. A reminder that people should always be more important than politics or social, political, and economic ideologies. Unfortunately, that truth seems difficult for humankind to grasp or achieve globally. After the Holocaust, humanity vowed to never let…
“It was just a simple dinner,” is far from the truth of Darryl Reuben Hall’s “The Dinner,” a fiercely accurate drama involving race equality, the birth of white privilege, and media brutality in our nation. This play, given life thanks to the money-sharing Kickstarter, is a post-Civil War piece that tells the story of Booker T. Washington’s journey of becoming…
Katt Tait’s “Black Magic: Songs Unchained” is a 50 minute rehearsal of the power of song to soothe, strengthen, empower, and organize. Against the backdrop of a powerful collection of images that focus on the slave trade (in Africa, in the United States, and throughout the privileged world) and slavery, Ms. Tait sings a treasure trove of songs from the…
“No more my Lord/No more my Lord/Lord, I’ll never turn back/No more my Lord” (Traditional American Spiritual, Composed for Choir by R. Nathaniel Dett) What matters about “Cool Hand Luke” is the corpus of enduring questions Donn Pearce’s rich text raises and what matters about Emma Reeves’ stage adaptation of the 1965 novel is whether or not those enduring questions…
There is a remarkable gem playing at the June Havoc Theatre as part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival which needs more audience attention than it received at its first performance. Henriette Rise’s “Trapped” is a provocative, mind-bending play about the importance of not allowing creativity and freedom to be trapped by “structure, normality, society, and authority.” Some characters like…