The Off-Broadway hit “Slave Play” is moving to Broadway this fall, with preview performances starting September 10.
What We Know:
- The play explores the themes of race and sexuality while following interracial couples who engage in a bizarre form of psychosexual therapy.
- Written by Jeremy O. Harris, the previous showings at the New York Theatre Workshop generated tons of buzz and even brought out big names like Madonna to watch.
- Harris began working on it in 2016, during his first semester at the Yale School of Drama; He has since graduated from the program this spring, and the play will be his Broadway debut.
- Harris said in a statement, “During my very short time being a professional writer, the world I thought I’d inhabit was one at odds with a commercial theatrical landscape…To see that this play, ‘Slave Play,’ that interrogates the traumas Americans have inherited from the legacy of chattel slavery and colonization has a place in the canon of work that has made its way to Broadway is both exhilarating and humbling” he stated.
- The New York Times’ Wesley Morris, hailed the show as ““the single most daring thing I’ve seen in theater in a long time,” but many were so offended by the show a “Change.org” petition was created for its cancellation.
- Some of the acts that people were offended by were sex toys displayed, full frontal nudity, and the first reviews of the show including “photos of lead actress Teyonah Parris in slave attire twerking for what appears to be her white overseer.”
- With “Slave Play” being far from the Disney spectacles and other much tamer shows currently headlining, this is a bold choice to showcase.
This is definitely one to watch!
