Posted on September 30, 2021

Broadway’s ‘Slave Play’ Holding Performances for ‘Black-Identifying’ Audiences Only

David Ng, Breitbart, September 27, 2021

The critically acclaimed drama Slave Play will bring back performances for black-only audiences when it returns to Broadway for a limited engagement starting November, with producers saying the invitation-only performances will be limited to “Black-identifying” people.

Slave Play was nominated for 12 Tony Awards but struck out during Sunday’s ceremony, taking home no awards despite being hotly tipped to dominate Broadway’s biggest night. The time-hopping drama, written by Jeremy O. Harris, tells the story of interracial relationships throughout American history, using slavery as the central motif to explore racism, microaggressions, and other contemporary ideas.

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Slave Play‘s original Broadway run featured several “Black Out” performances.

Robert O’Hara, the play’s director, explained to the New York Times in 2019: “We as black people have always had to find a space inside whiteness.”

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Harris, the playwright, told American Theatre magazine all-black audiences responded differently to the play.

“It felt like we turned the ‘hallowed’ space of a theatre into just a building—a building with new possibilities and rules. People got out of their seats to go to the bathroom when they needed, people spoke, people laughed loudly, talked back, people (mon dieu!) texted with their ringers off and screens turned low,” he said.

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