Are there any moments in the play that stick out to you?
One of the lines really speaks to who Alice Childress is and how she was feeling in the moment. When she says “It’s the man’s play, the man’s money, in the man’s theater. What are you gonna do about it?” And I thought, you know, a Black woman can say that, like no one else. She wrote that, in a moment when the characters are talking to “Black Cat” actors within the play. Then, one of them notices that one of the White actors is paying attention, and she clears her throat and does an immediate code switch.
That’s something that we don’t really see in theater, or have not seen. I can’t think of a play where it’s written that we’re having our private moment and then someone within the group notices a White person paying attention, then we all adjust and code-switch in the moment and it’s unspoken. It’s just something that we do and something we’ve done for generations as Black people in America and Alice put that in her play.
What is important for Black people in this industry to understand?
We have to create our own, we have to support our own, invest in our own and tell our own stories. I think that that’s so valuable, as it pertains to Trouble in Mind, because that is exactly what we’re doing. Charles so brilliantly put together an incredible creative team of diverse people to help tell this story. So, authenticity is not only in the words and in the acting, and onstage, but it’s also in the creation of the look of this time, which is something that is very valuable. On Broadway, you can have a full cast, be Black on stage, but the creative team will be all White. So, it’s very important that Trouble in Mind is being told in this way, because it is engaging. A very different element is that Broadway production is full of Black people helping to do that. We’re so proud to present that.
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