Assistant Director
Shaw Festival
August 2021
This should have been the first play by a black woman on Broadway. But in 1955 Alice Childress refused to have it staged on the Great White Way. Why? Because it is a play about white people putting on plays about black people, and the compromises that black artists have to make to work in the prevailing culture. Childress chose not to make the kind of compromise that Willetta, the heroine of her play, has spent her life wrestling with. A devastatingly observant satire on the rehearsal hall as a microcosm of society. This funny and moving play is a piece for our times.
Getting a chance to work with this collection of artists on this project was a real highlight of my time at Shaw. While I had previously assisted Philip Akin, it was a joy to watch him uncover all of the beautiful details in this rich script with such a phenomenal cast. The opportunity to work with him on refining staging in the round (when the piece was written for a proscenium stage) was particularly notable… as was beginning rehearsals in a parking lot.
Directed by Philip Akin
Featuring Nafeesa Monroe, Kiera Sangster, Graeme Somerville, Kaleb Alexander, David Alan Anderson, Neil Barclay, Kristi Frank, Patrick Galligan, and Peter Millard
Set Design by Rachel Forbes
Costume Design by Ming Wong
Lighting Design by Mikael Kangas
Music Direction and Sound Design by Ryan deSouza
Dialect Consultation by Alicia Richardson