SAN DIEGO: San Diego Repertory Theatre has announced their new Black Voices 2021 Play Reading Series, to be presented in March and April. The readings will be presented live online, followed by live post-show discussions on topics of race, class, gender, intersectionality, and police brutality.
“We seek with this series to share and celebrate the potent and wonderfully diverse voices of four Black playwrights and four Black directors,” said artistic director Sam Woodhouse in a statement. “Now more than ever, attention must be paid, and hearts and minds must open wide to listen closely to these essential American voices.”
The series will begin on March 15 with Polar Bears, Black Boys, and Prairie Fringed Orchids by Vincent Terrell Durham. The play follows a liberal white couple hosting a cocktail party in Harlem, where guests discuss underweight polar bears, gentrification, racial identity, and Lana Turner. Rondrell McCormick will direct.
Next up will be Deneen Reynolds-Knott’s Baton on March 22. Baton follows Ava and Tim on a date that is interrupted by the news of unrest in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray in police custody. Dexter Singleton will direct.
Following will be Mud Row by Dominique Morisseau. Shifting between past and present, Mud Row follows two generations of sisters as they join the fight for Civil Rights and reckon with their shared heritage. Patricia McGregor will direct the reading on March 29.
The series will conclude with The Great Khan by Michael Gene Sullivan on April 5. The play follows two Black teens connected by unforeseen circumstances when Genghis Khan shows up to challenge their ideas. Delicia Turner Sonnenberg will direct.
San Diego Repertory Theatre strives to promote an interconnected community through vivid works that nourish progressive political and social values and celebrate the multiple voices of the San Diego region.
