Day Of Absence

march 23-25, 2018

Day of Absence is a satirical fantasy about an imaginary Southern town where all the black people have suddenly disappeared. The only ones left are sick and lying in hospital beds, refusing to get well. Infants are crying because they are being tended to by strange parents. The Mayor pleads for the President, Governor, and the NAACP to send him "a jackpot of jigaboos." On a nationwide radio network he calls on the blacks, wherever they are, to come back. He shows them the cloths with which they wash cars and the brushes with which they shine shoes as sentimental reminders of the goodies that await them.

Each play and every project that we choose to produce is carefully selected to maintain focus on the organization's mission to battle systemic oppression. We are under the belief that nearly every play can be produced in such a way as to effectuate change, however when deciding on a play we look particularly close at plays that encourage discussion and debate, that incite action and change, that are urgent, that howl "not in my name," that move the theatre to unique places and back, and most significantly we look particularly close at plays with a sincere ability to struggle for social justice.

2017