Vera Stark (Jessica Frances Duke), a vaudeville alumna and now maid for “America’s little sweetie pie,” Gloria Mitchell (Jenni Barber), is desperate to elbow her way into the movies in pre-Hays Hollywood. She asks Mitchell to recommend her to her director, but the squeaky-voiced diva is consumed by her own casting woes. When the script […]
Read more
For a time, I thought Ethan Hawke was the worst, most destructive stage actor in New York City. Shakespeare, Chekhov, Brecht—it seemed there was no canonized playwright he was unwilling to defile, no production safe from his histrionics, his loud, heavily gestural, and self-absorbed brand of performance. So it is with great delight and more […]
Read more
Considering the rich and vital contributions to Black theater this season, is it any surprise that the hottest ticket in town is for an adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird, that behemoth of self-congratulatory liberalism that continues to haunt our middle school classrooms? Luminaries such as Oprah Winfrey, Joe Biden, and James Comey have all […]
Read more
J. Marion Sims, often called “the father of modern gynecology,” is best remembered for his pioneering treatment of fistulas. A key breakthrough was the use of silver rather than silk or lead sutures. The technique no doubt relieved the suffering of a great deal of women. But to reach that breakthrough, Sims experimented on at […]
Read more
Pharus (Jeremy Pope) is the bright and confident lead singer in the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys’ prestigious choir. He has a quick, endearing smile, and he makes little effort to temper his flamboyant body language. A few minutes into Choir Boy, and a few verses into Pharus’ solo at the school’s commencement, […]
Read more
Were it not for its anachronisms, the opening of Jeremy O. Harris’ Slave Play might read like an ugly exploitation movie from the ‘seventies. Overseer Jim (Paul Alexander Nolan) interrupts Kaneisha (Teyonah Parris) while she’s twerking to Rihanna’s “Work” and rapes her. Meanwhile, Alana (Annie McNamara), a bored and thirsty housewife, summons her husband’s light-skinned […]
Read more
Undine Barnes Calles (Cherise Boothe) is a boutique public relations executive catering to the Black bourgeoisie. She wears gold jackets and leopard-print coats; her hair rests atop her head like a crown. When the play opens, she is sitting behind her desk, barking orders at her assistant (Nikiya Mathis) and scrambling to find a celebrity […]
Read more