Black InterestsCommentary

No Whites Allowed by Edward D. Sargent

0

D.C.’s Studio Theatre Provides a Safe Space for Black People to See a Deep Comedy about “Incorrigible” Black Teenagers and Afterwards Freely Discuss the Play

On Friday night, October 25, 2024, in Washington, D.C., theatrical history will be made — and it will not involve the drama of a chaotic presidential campaign between a chaotic and villainous felon and a classy and resolute prosecutor trying to heroically save America from his evil grasp.

Rather, this Friday’s theatrical production will be peaceful and locally-created. It will be unique because the stimulating event will feature a play with an all-Black cast that was written and directed by Black artists and — get this — it will be performed for an all-Black audience at Studio Theatre, which is a predominantly-White playhouse in an uber-gentrified neighborhood where most Black people cannot afford to live.

Yes, you read that right: The theater is in the heart of White Washington, but on Friday, October 25, 2024, they will ask White people to “join us on another night.”

No Whites Allowed.*

Studio Theatre calls this daring affair a Black Out Night. This event will flip the shame-ridden legacy of racism on its head.

However, to be clear …

Studio Theatre cautions: People who are not Black can crash the party, if they so desire. But, they are encouraged to not uncool the “It’s a Black Thing” vibe. A statement posted to Studio Theatre’s website explains:

(*Additional Disclaimer and Legal Notice are included at the end of this article).

Be that as it may, obviously the event will be an exception to the rule, which is quite befitting, because the play is entitled Exception to the Rule.

Use this Discount code for a 50% reduction off the Black Out Night ticket price: ETRFRIENDS

History in the Making

What makes this Black Out Night especially historic is that for the first time in the theater’s 45 years of operation, it will present a play that depicts Black students in an inner city high school with no adult supervision, as if they were stranded on an island. This creates an unusual opportunity for audience members to speak amongst themselves as a village about how to save their children from themselves.

These are their childrenso let them talk to their children and about their children openly, without the need to interpret things for anyone who is not immersed in what is essentially a Black nation within a White nation, a Black culture within a White culture, and a reality set apart from the realities of White people. This is a Black thing. White folk — and other outsiders — may not understand.

Still, “No Whites Allowed” sounds pretty unusual, to say the least. It hearkens back to the dangerous Jim Crow era, when parts of the country boldly posted signs like, “Whites Only.” In Dallas, Texas, they posted signs like this: “No Dogs, Negros, Mexicans.”

So … really? Do we really want to go back to racially divisive thinking?

Does Studio Theatre know what it’s doing?

Some people are wondering, Is Black Out Night a good idea?

In response, others might say, No … It’s not a good idea. It’s a great idea!

Let’s listen to a few people who endorse Black Out Night, though they may not make it to the show. No matter, one does not need to be at the Black Night Out to grasp the concept.

“First, our society should not need these types of events to occur,” said an Asian Ph.D. analyst, who declined to reveal his name out of fear that his boss would frown upon him for speaking publicly about Black people.

“That said,” the brainy Asian added: “I think it’s a cool idea, because it will allow Black people to talk within their community, without outsiders judging them for what they might say or how they might say it. It’s like a family thing. Like, I can talk sh*t about my brother, but I won’t let some stranger do it. The answers to what negatively affects a community starts within that community.”

Two Black D.C. inner city high schoolers offered their points of view (POV).

Dervin Worsely, Jr., 16, is a dreadlocked and whip smart 11th grader at McKinley Technology High School. He is planning on majoring in engineering in college. He stated: “With Black Night Out, the roles will be reversed. We’re no longer the ones being oppressed and shut out. We are independent now. This concept is really empowering. It’s an opportunity to unite as a community and feel free, with no distractions.”

Darius Holbrook, 13, a quick-witted 8th grader at Kipp D.C. Public Charter School offered his opinion: “Black Out Night gives Black people space to be uninhibited. We can argue different points of view that might confuse or offend White people or other non-Black people.” Holbrook will study engineering in college. He’s a star football player who wears his hair closely cut, with the razor-sharp outlining that a lot of Black guys have popularized in recent years. Holbrook added: “It’s like, ‘It’s a Black Thing, You Wouldn’t Understand.’”

Let’s Go to Detention

OK, now that we’ve entertained both sides of the No Whites Allowed issue, let’s go to the detention class and get deeper into the play.

Exception to the Rule is a one-act play. The detention classroom where the half-dozen students are confined is deep inside the school’s basement, with no cell phone service and no clock. The school is depicted as the worst high school in an unnamed city. The teacher that is supposed to supervise the wayward students has abandoned them.

But, they don’t believe that the teacher, Mr. Bernie, would do that to them, so they stay put. According to school rules, they cannot leave until he signs their attendance slips and gives them permission to leave.

Chaos erupts while they wait for Mr. Bernie to arrive. Profanity becomes a repeated refrain; weed gets fired up and inhaled; there’s violence and threats of violence as well as bold, sexual remarks and shameless sexual antics. And there’s a lot of off-color humor. Lots of laughter fills the rooms at times. These robust youngsters find a way to have fun within their confinement and misery.

Now, seriously, if that ain’t Black — the inventors of The Blues — what is?

WARNING: The N-word flies around the room like a bat out of the ghetto. You don’t know when it’s coming towards you, but you know that eventually it will slap your face hard with its wings as it soars by. So, if the toxic-vulgar word “nigger” offends you, brace yourself; don’t have a meltdown. You’ll survive.

(Before we move on, let’s take a short intermission for a special announcement: Black adults, let’s always remember that our children did not create the N-word. That venomous viper has been alive for hundreds of years. It just won’t die, it seems. It lives in the music young people love (e.g., Tupac’s lyrics); it slithers into hit movies (e.g., Denzel’s Training Day); it curls around our necks at ball games, parties, concerts, the mall, on buses, cars and trains, and yes, in warm, vibrating beds — i.e., the viper is everywhere.

It even raised its ugly head, opened its wide mouth and spoke at a White House Press Dinner in honor of the Black President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama. So, let’s not totally blame our children for mimicking what our society has let them — and force them — to hear).

Now, back to the action: Rarely, if ever, do adults get to closely observe “typical” inner city youngsters in all their sassy, overly-sexed, thuggish and comically-cool glory. They bend and twist the English language as they enforce their own cultural rules, norms and expectations; and they keep each other in check, so that none of them crosses the restrictive lines of their well-defined subculture. And woe to any nerdy peer who accidentally crosses into their world, for they shall be bullied.

For all intents and purposes, these young people are trapped — not like as on a slave ship, a plantation, a jail or a prison, but they’re trapped never-the-less.

Or are they?

That is the question; and from that question more questions arise, such as:

What will happen if they leave?

Will they be punished?

If they leave before Mr. Bernie returns, wouldn’t that put them in deeper trouble? Won’t they be permanently expelled from school?

Is Mr. Bernie ever coming back?

Yo-Mr. Bernie! Where you at? Screams a sassy female detainee named Mikayla. Actually, multiple times throughout the play Mikayla storms to the classroom door — careful to not cross the threshold — and hollers at the top of her voice!

Yo-Mr. Bernie! Where you at? . . . Mr. Bernie need to hurry his ass up, because I got somewhere I need to be.

This is how Studio Theatre describes the play:

“Six Black students at the city’s worst high school wait out Friday detention, but no one can figure out how ‘College Bound Erika’ ended up stuck here too. The rules are simple: a teacher has to sign their form before anyone can leave the room. But no adults have made it yet, so the teens fill their time by flirting, fighting, and forming plans for the long weekend ahead — until a more sinister probability comes into view. This gut-punch of a comedy interrogates how a racialized public school system fails its students by design, who gets the chance to escape it, and what they must leave behind to do so.”

Are Today’s Youth Much Different from Previous Generations?

Are contemporary youths the same as their parents were when they were teenagers decades ago? Or are they different in some profound way?

After the Black Out Night performance, the audience members will engage that topic in conversation with Psalmayene 24, an accomplished theatrical artist involved in the play. The playwright and director will not be able to attend. Audience members will be invited to discuss how the play impacted them and how it reflect the realities that Black people adults, generation after generation, have struggled to reshape or overcome.

For instance, astoundingly, decades ago, less than half of Black boys who attended inner city high schools graduated. That ratio remains the same.

Black people who go to see Exception to the Rule need to boldly talk about that fact among themselves and without filters.

If the less than 50 percent dropout rate does not make you sick to the stomach, consider this terrible fact: According to EducationWeek, “nearly 60 percent” of the high school dropouts sooner or later get stuck inside the “school-to-prison pipeline.

Black people should talk about that, too. What are they going to do to fix that?

Keep Hope Alive, Please

Hopefully, the Black Out Night audience members will dig deep inside their souls and keep it real with one another within the safe and enclosed space of the beautiful Studio Theatre. There’s a magical sense of creative freedom in an intimate theatre. There’s a shared energy that cannot be found in a movie theatre or concert stadium. The space essentially coaxes people to remove their barriers, embrace the moment, interact with one another and create something special — something memorable, something they can feel, something they can take with them to internalize, share with others and channel into reality-bending action in some productive and transformative way that transmutes tragedy into triumph. Like a sort of alchemy.

After Exception to the Rule is performed by the six dynamic young actors, the Black-on-Black discussion might be the perfect time for Black people to bare their souls, having freshly experienced the authentic portrayal of Black young adults struggling for identity and a place where they can be somebody.

Imagine Black high schoolers preparing for college, feeling free and consequential. Like they matter.

You know, like their White peers.

Perhaps, the actors, director, playwright and audience members will experience the tingling moments that one should expect when an intelligent and spiritual people shine the spotlight on themselves. Perhaps, they will leave the Black Out Night stronger, more passionate and more determined to stay in the struggle until victory is won.

If that truly happens, then the purpose of Black Out Night will be fulfilled.

About Exception to the Rule

David Harris, Playwright

The play, written by David Harris, debuted Off-Broadway, New York City in 2022, and has received favorable reviews by the Washington Post, New York Times and other media.

On October 4, 2024, Washington Post theatre critic Naveen Kumar wrote: “Performances from the terrific ensemble feel lived-in and natural … “ The actors adroitly dramatize “restless young minds.” He added: “They posture and preen, shoot the breeze and push each other’s buttons, like folks we might remember from back in the day (or even now). By the time we learn about the problems that put them here, they’re already deep in our sympathies.”

Interestingly, in 2022, Kumar was the theater critic for the New York Times and reviewed the play when it debuted. He wrote: Under the direction of Miranda Haymon, the performances have an exaggerated quality that keeps the characters at a distance, despite the action being in your face. Each one has subtler, more grounded moments, but there’s a heightened sense to their personas that hints they’re stand-ins for broader ideas.”

Additional Reviews

“‘Exception to the Rule’ at Studio Theatre: a fierce dissection of racial uplift

In a challenging but rewarding show about students stuck in detention, playwright Dave Harris questions which Black Americans are allowed to succeed.”

DCTheatreArts.org

“Audiences may think they’ve seen stories about high school students in detention before, but Dave Harris’ play Exception to the Rule, now at Studio Theatre, examines the situation through a unique lens.”

TalkinBroadway

“The actors play their characters to perfection…You do not want to miss Studio Theatre’s production of ‘Exception to the Rule.’ I promise, this one will stay with you.”

MDTheatreguide

For audience members who’ve seen the movie Cooley High, the play might trigger memories of a group of hip teenagers at a high school near Chicago’s notorious Cabirni-Green public housing project. LeRoy “Preach” Jackson (Glynn Thurman) and his best friend Richard “Cochise” Morris (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) may not have been in Mr. Bernie’s detention class, but their antics and poetic philosophizing would fit in perfectly there.

Comparisons to various other dramas have been made as well, including the movie, The Breakfast Club and the play, Waiting for Godot.

Exception to the Rule Artists

Playwright | Dave Harris

Director | Miranda Haymon

Cast: MIKAYLA: Khalia Muhammad | TOMMY: Steven Taylor Jr. | DAYRIN: Jacques Jean-Mary

DASANI: Shana Lee Hill | ABDUL: Khouri St. Surin | ERIKA: Sabrina Lynne | THE INTERCOM: Craig Wallace

Read their bioshttps://www.studiotheatre.org/plays/play-detail/2024-2025/exception-to-the-rule

About Studio Theatre’s Black Out Night

This writer senses that history will be made at the Exception to the Rule Black Out Night due to its unique opportunity for Black theatergoers to privately/informally share their experiences, thoughts and feelings about the problems facing too many children in the Nation’s Capital. However, he confesses that he may have pushed the envelope just a bit. There’s a little exaggeration in this piece. However, he makes no apology for his wordplay. It is intended to set the stage, if you will.

For the record:

A Studio Theatre spokesman stated: “We try to do Black Out Nights for any of our productions that particularly resonate with Black audiences. Since 2022, we’ve had them for James Ijames’ Good Bones and Fat Ham last year as well as George C. Wolfe’s The Colored Museum this summer.”

For ticketing information, visit:
https://www.studiotheatre.org/plays/play-detail/2024-2025/exception-to-the-rule

Black Out Night tickets, as of October 24, 2024, are plenty available.

Use this Discount code for 50% reduction of the Black Out Night ticket price: ETRFRIENDS

The play will close this weekend. The last performances will be presented as follows.

SHOW TIMES

Saturday, October 26, 2024: at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Sunday Matinee, October 27, 2024 at 2 p.m.

LOCATION

1501 14TH Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005

BOX OFFICE: 202.332.3300

* Disclaimer and Legal Notice

This article is as an artistic, exaggerated attempt to capture the spirit of exclusivity that Black people often crave in order to speak out loud and be unapologetically Black in major venues. This writer acknowledges that the term Whites Not Allowed is not technically accurate as pertains to Exception to the Rule. Thus, this article is intended to be an artistic and exaggerated interpretation of the phrase, Black Out Night.

Indeed, Studio Theatre would never promote a “Whites Not Allowed” event. It’s illegal to discriminate based on race. So, to be crystal clear: Studio Theatre takes no responsibility for the content of this article and has not endorsed it. Studio Theatre does not bar anyone from buying tickets or attending the performance or the Black Out Night talk back on the basis of race.

About the Author – Editor, PowerNomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America by Dr. Claud Anderson. Former Washington Post Reporter/Prison

This article first appeared on Medium.com account:
Black Men In America.com
Since our launch in 2001, Black Men In America.com has evolved from a news site focusing on black men to a well-rounded social, current events and political website featuring content that people want to share and talk about.  We have thought-provoking content that aims to educate, entertain and inspire our site visitors to become good citizens and role models in their community.  Please do not use this site to post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane or indecent information of any kind, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law. You alone are responsible for the material you post.

MasterChef Gary Meal Reel

Previous article

Dear Vice President Harris: Can We Talk?

Next article

You may also like

Comments

Leave a Reply