In each issue of D&T, we bring you five suggested plays for studying and performing with your students. This time, Simi Belo takes us through her recommendations of plays that inspire, educate, and unite audiences through heartfelt exploration of the complex intersection of race and gender. Each of these form part of the short plays collection: Ain't I a Woman?
Changing Rays by Mauricia Lewis
Cast: 2F
Synopsis: ‘Labelled the angry black woman whenever I challenge the status quo.’ Enter the world of Changing Rays where willing participants can undergo treatment to change their skin colour from black to white. Will Ngozi finally get the acceptance and recognition she craves by undergoing this treatment? A dystopian satire offering a strong social commentary on Western conventions of beauty standards and the pervasive impact on the black psyche.
Why it's great: It skilfully tackles the extent some black women would go to, or have been driven to, including resorting to self-inflected grievous bodily harm, to conform to the relentless overt and covert pressure of a narrow definition of beauty based on European features.
In Conversation by Eileen Gbagbo
Cast: 2F
Synopsis: ‘We're not going anywhere until you get my name right!’ Who better to wax lyrical about managing personal finances than expert Dr Tiwa Sowunmi-Smith and what better platform than TV show Inside Money, in front of a live audience? If only the host will let her get a word in edgeways …
Why it's great: It's a hilarious summary: firstly of the additional layers of scrutiny that are inadvertently reserved for black people who, regardless of their credentials and proof of their pedigree, are rarely taken at face value like their white counterparts; and secondly how easy it is for the mainstream to focus on the wrong things, leading to the wrong conversations, thereby leaving the critical issues unexplored!
Nicki Takes a Breath by Sara Amanda
Cast: 2F
Synopsis: ‘Be your idea of you and not the idea of you they want you to be.’ Nicole (‘Nicki’) and Adenike (‘Nicki’) will do anything to clinch their dream role: Nora in A Doll's House. Just one thing, this Nora needs to be ‘ghetto’ …
Why it's great: A witty and engaging illustration of some of the lazy tropes and stereotypes black actors are expected to fall within, in order to secure any paid work. A crowd-pleaser with a sharp script that resonates with black creatives everywhere!
2037: The Burden by Rukiat Ashawe
Cast: 4F, 2M
‘They always want us to be “strong”, the one who everyone else depends on.’ It's 2037 and the beginning of the end for The Movement. After valiant resistance in a 20-year war, they have been decimated by a deadly virus released by the other side. Their survival hangs in the balance and their leader, Fin, has a very difficult decision to make …
Why it's great: It's a poignant and memorable look at the way black people frequently need to choose between self and cause; the unspoken burden of always representing a minority and the notion that black women always have to be strong and withstand pain.
Mary, Queen of Thots by Katrina Smith-Jackson
Cast: 1F
Synopsis: ‘But if prayer's the answer to ‘hashtag winning’ … where's my Academy Award at, Lord?!’ Sick of rejection being the theme tune to her love life, Mary decides to bite the bullet and give dating apps a go. Yet, throwing herself head first into the deep end of messy love (and even messier sex) as a depressed Black zillennial definitely has its ‘kinks’ … race-play fetishes to name one! But as touch starvation and swipe addiction begin to wash over her, will Mary sink or swim in the murky waters of the digital dating pool?
Why it's great: It's a hilarious play shining the spotlight on some of the trials and tribulations of digital dating (particularly for black women), and how it could never be the antidote for self-loathing and depression.