Perfectlycuratedlife had the pleasure of seeing Thoughts of a Colored Man (TOACM), Keenan Scott II’s powerful new Broadway play. The play unearths the triumphs and struggles of seven Black men living in the same Brooklyn neighborhood. Though they share physical proximity, their lives are layered, distinct, and often divergent. The characters are unnamed – their appellations – Happiness, Lust, Anger, Love, Passion, Depression, and Wisdom – are derived from their salient character attributes. TOACM brings to the stage some of today’s most brilliant Black male actors, including Luke James, Tristan Mack Wilds, and Tony Award nominee Forrest McClendon,among others (more on that, later). The play deftly showcases their talents with material that includes spoken word, song, and slam poetry. The individual monologues that pepper the play are feast for the senses…a visual and aural delight. Husky-voiced crooner Luke James can SING-sing!

@PCL checked out the 8pm showing last Saturday. The theater was packed and buzzing with heady energy; word had gotten out about how great the show is. From the moment the stage lights went up, and the ensemble cast – clad in red, black, and white – hit the stage, the audience was rapt. There were moments of raucous laughter, knowing sighs, and collective suspense, as the cast took us on a first-person tour of the interior lives and relationships of today’s Black men. From the timeless themes of love, identity, lust, and filial relationships, to more the contemporary issues of gentrification, public discourse about gender identity, depressed wages, and the Black community’s relationship with Air Jordan sneakers, TOACM mines the depths of the human condition, and channels them through the unique experiences of Black American men. The dialogue was fresh and never tried too hard – it felt like overhearing a conversation between long-time friends.
After the show, PCL got a backstage peek into the production with two of the show’s actors, Garrett Turner and Bjorn DuPaty. Both men have impressive theater credentials – Turner, a native of Florence, Alabama, has been with TOACM since it premiered, and he played the role of “Anger” in TOACM’s runs in regional theaters in Syracuse, NY and Baltimore, MD. He has also acted in regional productions of ‘In The Heights’ and ‘Dreamgirls.’ This week, he will play the role of ‘Happiness.’ DuPaty, a native Chicagoan, has starred in Dominique Morisseau’s 'Pipeline' and ‘Mlima’s Tale’, and will make his debut as ‘Wisdom’ in tonight’s staging.

During our chat, DuPaty shared that the characters ‘Happiness,’ ‘Love,’ ‘Passion,’ and ‘Depression’ resonated with him most. In TOACM, ‘Happiness’ is somewhat of an anomaly – he comes from a deeply loving two-family home, he had an affirming relationship with his recently-deceased father, and he has never known a moment of resource insecurity. These pieces of his personal narrative sometimes make him feel like an outsider when interacting with his peers, most of whom have struggled with poverty, instability, displacement, and absentee fathers. ‘Happiness’ experiences make him feel like a man apart – one who is at once identifying and asserting his place in the world. This role, in particular, speaks to the sense of searching for identity and community that DuPaty experienced as a child. While growing up in Chicago, DuPaty's life straddled the city’s South Side, where he lived, and its suburban areas, where he was a martial arts champion – two worlds, one man. “Thoughts of a Colored Man is an important piece because it’s simple but it displays Black men behaving in a way that we are told we don’t behave; we get to see ourselves in the way we actually are – as men who love our families, love our wives...and our women.”

Turner, who has spent years living in the United Kingdom, identifies with narrative themes presented by ‘Love,’ ‘Anger,’ and ‘Depression.’ For him, TOACM’s brilliance and import stem from giving air to the oft-misrepresented, misconstrued, and misunderstood lives of contemporary Black American men. TOACM doesn’t deify Black men but it does allow space for their stories – raw, complex, nuanced, and ultimately beautiful – to come to life. Turner stated “Thoughts of a Colored Man is necessary because it allows Black men to be vulnerable.” Indeed, it does.

TOACM is directed by Steve Broadnax, and is currently in its second week on Broadway at the Golden Theater. Kandi Burruss, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Samira Wiley are among its notable producers. It is the first Broadway show in history to be written by, directed by, starring, and lead produced by Black artists and theater professionals. With seven new shows by Black playwrights opening this fall (Lackawanna Blues, Chicken & Biscuits, Pass Over, Trouble in Mind, Clyde’s, and Skeleton Crew), Broadway is transforming before our eyes and TOACM is an essential element in its metamorphosis.

свернуть