writer of stuff
Taking some time to focus on a couple comic book projects these days. After a very long hiatus, I’ve started updating ROOK again (some art in progress is above – I’m writing and drawing this one). It’s a thriller/drama set in a youth home and inspired by westerns like UNFORGIVEN. And after a very long run (since 2011!), my action/espionage comic PROTEGE (art by Juan Romera) is wrapping up next week. All available online, for free!
Ever wonder what happened in Texas the year of the first Juneteenth (June 19, 1865)? I did, and have been researching and writing a play set during that time. Spoiler alert: shit got ugly.
According to a report by the Texas constitutional convention, white Texans killed almost 400 black people between 1865 and 1868. Reports by the Freedmen’s Bureau (established by Congress to provide food, housing, medical aid, establish schools and offer legal assistance to freed slaves/”Freedmen”) offers a glimpse of the chaos following emancipation. Records relating to “murders and outrages” include:
On the arrival of the first U. S. Troops in Houston (34th Iowa Infty.) a colored man named William, an enlisted cook in “K” Co. who walked uptown in advance of the troops, was murdered in the streets by a white man named Cotton.
Date on or about the middle of June 1865.James Murphy (white) shot and killed a Freedman named Boston McDaniel on the road from Crockett to Huntsville. Reported cause. The Freedman did not take off his hat to Murphy when he passed him.
Done October 1865. Houston Co.Freedman Oliver was killed in Montgomery Co. by Maj. Uzzel and Dr. McQueen who got into a quarrel with him because he had gone to Houston to report Maj. Uzzel’s father for non-payment of wages. They beat him with sticks and as he was running away from them fired several shots at him one taking effect.
Done about the 1st of Dec 1865.On the 26th of July 1865 W. S. Spencer inflicted several severe blows with the iron butt end of a heavy whip on the head of a mulatto woman named Adelaide, cutting to the bone. The said W. S. Spencer then in company with C. C. Millican then tied her hands together pulled her clothes over her hips, bucked her and gave her about two hundred lashes with a heavy leather strap, supposed to be a trace. One of the parties claimed that Adelaide had made an insulting noise when his wife passed. This case was reported by Joel Spencer an old citizen of Brazonia Co. who formerly owned Adelaide and who is the father-in-law of one of the perpetrators of this outrage.
After weeks of protests and outrage across the country, it isn’t news at this point to say that – 155 years later – we have yet to reach the denouement of post-emancipation violence and terror.
THE HOUSE OF THE NEGRO INSANE will not get its world premiere this July, but work has already begun to make it happen in 2021. The glass-half-full take is that we get a whole extra year to work on the show (as long as the world doesn’t collapse before this dumpster fire of a year is over).
To replace what would have been opening weekend this July, the fine folks at CATF are planning a virtual event to hype next year’s festival. Here’s what I know so far:
Here’s the blurb:
CATF serves up an immersive digital experience. CATFUNMUTED gives you an exclusive deep-dive into what it takes to produce six BOLD, NEW PLAYS. In true CATF fashion, we’ve created a repertory schedule where you’ll hear from playwrights, actors, directors, designers, and the other team members that work together to bring these plays to life. Opening Weekend, you’ll see scenes from each play and you’ll talktheater with special pre-show discussions, lively happy hours, and for the first-time ever – individual Q&A sessions with ALL SIX playwrights. We’re not sharing everything, but you’ll wish that it was already July 2021!
Here’s a shot of the genius crew I get to remotely work with to make THE HOUSE OF THE NEGRO INSANE a reality. Despite the world premiere of the play being pushed back to 2021 (yes, I’m hopeful that society won’t completely collapse before then), CATF is moving ahead with the design phase, and something* will possibly happen this year.
Clockwise from top left: Tamilla Woodard, director; me; Johnathan Alexander, lighting design; Sharath Patel, sound design; Claire DeLiso, set design; Shane Ballard, costume design.
This is one of the most exciting times in the process for me, as the play officially moves out of my head and other folks start to shape the look, sound and feel of the production.
* I’m not sure what kind of something CATF has in the works for this year yet, but as soon as I can spoil whatever they’re scheming I will…
Forced to isolate, the Contemporary American Theatre Festival created a virtual gala on Facebook to announce their new season (including THE HOUSE OF THE NEGRO INSANE). Big up to the amazing actor David Toney, who bravely performed an excerpt from THOTNI into his phone. These are uncertain days, and despite the distance (all participants were in different locations) it was a welcome shot of hope to watch all these folks who are so committed to bringing theatre to the people.
CATF Artistic Director Ed Herendeen closed with these words: “We’re going to keep you posted. I will not give up hope that we do the festival this season, and if things don’t work out that way… you will see all six of these plays later… whether that means 2020 or 2021.”
More info on the CATF website.
Broadway World: CATF Reschedules 2020 Season.
Via Jacobin:
From the article “The Accumulation of Wealth,” November 28, 1856, published in Frederick Douglass’ Paper.
Wealth has ever been the tool of the tyrant, the readiest means by which liberty is overthrown. A nation starting with free institutions and customs, begins to increase in wealth, and that wealth to accumulate in the hands of a few, and here is the lever by which, eventually and certainly, the liberties gained in a simpler age will be overthrown.
Wealth is averse to agitation; it abhors revolutions; it calls for peace, at whatever sacrifice. A tyranny of an individual or a class may be winding its subtle meshes around the wealthy, depriving them of the right of unrestrained locomotion, the right of speech, the right of private judgment; but if it leaves them the privilege of grasping and accumulating gold, they are content — nay, will aid the tyranny to subject them who value their liberties enough to struggle for them; for the agitation might endanger their gains …
Not only did I see some great shows while across the pond, I met Juliet Wilkes Romero, the very cool playwright of THE WHIP. I read about her play in the Guardian and immediately wanted to take the trip to Stratford-upon-Avon to see it (actually I had no clue how far The Royal Shakespeare Company’s base was from London, but it was more than worth the train ride).
From RSC’s page for the play:
As the 19th Century dawns, politicians of all political persuasions gather in London to abolish the slave trade once and for all.
But will the price of freedom turn out to be a multi-billion pound pay off to the slave owners? Even though such a bailout could drive the country into economic and political ruin?
Spoiler alert: the Brits paid out the equivalent of £20 billion to slave owners. But the question of the play isn’t if they paid it; it’s about how colliding forces allowed the ruling class to win at the expense of black and working-class Brits in the end. Check out the infamous (now deleted) HM Treasury tweet from 2018:
Gotta love the distorted affirmation: “… helped to pay to end the slave trade.” Not: you bailed out/paid off slave owners, you made the rich engaged in a brutal trade richer.
THE WHIP does an incredible job to bring this difficult, infuriating piece of history to life. Politicians love to use the old, tired talking point “how will we pay for it?” when it comes to things like free college, or healthcare for all; THE WHIP reminds us they can find a way to pay for anything — as long as it supports their own selfish interests.
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Just vaulted across the Atlantic for a week in London. From our base in Shoreditch we’ve planned to pack in as much Theatre as possible:
THREE SISTERS, the National
ENDGAME, the Old Vic
THE CANARY AND THE CROW, Arcola Theater
THE WHIP, Royal Shakespeare Company
From our night at the Old Vic:
And from wandering around the hood:
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