I'm a white man doing a play about the lives of black people. What else needs to be said?
So the best way to handle this play is to simply invite black people to speak about their lives.
And this is the way this play is being created. There are no frills. There will be few if any props. We will be performing at a new theater- NJ Rep West End Arts Center in Long Branch. We do not yet know which space we'll be using at this new theater. So there are these challenges. And then there is the challenge of the work itself. Many of the black folks I invited to write for us have not responded. I have thought perhaps it is because I am white. I would understand this. We are creating this play in a most divisive time. Still, we as a theater company plow forward. We are far, far from perfect. But our intentions are close to it.
So the best way to handle this play is to simply invite black people to speak about their lives.
And this is the way this play is being created. There are no frills. There will be few if any props. We will be performing at a new theater- NJ Rep West End Arts Center in Long Branch. We do not yet know which space we'll be using at this new theater. So there are these challenges. And then there is the challenge of the work itself. Many of the black folks I invited to write for us have not responded. I have thought perhaps it is because I am white. I would understand this. We are creating this play in a most divisive time. Still, we as a theater company plow forward. We are far, far from perfect. But our intentions are close to it.
