Three different Northeast Ohio productions showcase Black joy on their stages this month. One fuses the Bard with barbeque, another won a Pulitzer and the third was created right here in Cleveland. Yet the creative minds behind these plays are all eager to celebrate Black life.
Jeanne Madison wrote 鈥淪howin鈥� Up Black鈥� for Cleveland Public Theatre鈥檚 Test Flight in 2023. The workshop allowed her to refine the piece, which now opens Feb. 20. It takes place amid a Black Lives Matter protest and a debutante ball 鈥� both happening at the same time and place.
鈥淚t's not a Black History Month play, and it's also not a Black play,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o many of us are just frustrated with the visual imagery of Blacks on screen. So many of the shows are very depressing, and I tell people: 鈥樷�� has no prisons, no prostitutes, no pimps.鈥�
What it does have is a family having conversations about equality amid the preparations for a cotillion.
鈥淪o, you've got generational conflicts, you've got class conflicts, you've got economic conflicts,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he issues that are talked about are universal.鈥�
At Dobama Theatre in Cleveland Heights, Director Sheffia Randall-Nickerson feels similarly about 鈥�,鈥� running through Feb. 16. She called the Pulitzer-winning script a 鈥減age turner.鈥�
鈥淚t really was the characters and their love for each other, even though they had trials and tribulations,鈥� she said. 鈥淗ow are they going to come together as a group of friends and lovers and get through it? I also truly, truly loved this story of queer Black love and family.鈥�
The comedy involves Cordell and his boyfriend, Dwayne, preparing for a hot wing contest when a family member ominously shows up, uninvited. It strikes a personal chord for Randall-Nickerson, who is Black and queer.
鈥淲e're often looking at sort of Black struggle and Black trauma,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hile we definitely want to honor that, one of the things I love about Dobama 鈥� is saying, 鈥楬ey, let's celebrate Black joy.鈥欌��
At Cleveland Play House, 鈥溾�� presents a delicious take on Shakespeare through February 23.
鈥淔at Ham鈥� director Nathan Henry Lilly, who doubles as CPH鈥檚 director of engagement, said the play in not a Black story but an American story.
鈥淭rying to find my place in the world, trying to figure out where I belong and trying to figure out what I want to do or what I want to be when I grow up,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e all go through that, right?鈥�
