Boston, Albuquerque, Lansing, and Orlando. Black Santa was my little play that could this year.
I wrote the play because I wanted to explore a disconnect that seems to exist between the reported experience of blacks in America and the outlook of whites, many of whom define racism in ways that conveniently allow them to exempt themselves: flying the confederate flag, for example, or using the n-word. “What ignorance,” we say when we hear of such things. “Thank God I don’t see color.” Enter Jan and John from Black Santa.
The truth is, we all see color, and we’re all biased. “Seems like Disney has a princess for everyone these days,” John says, in the opening moments of my ten-minute play. We’ve all been steeped in a culture that privileges whiteness and marginalizes people of color, especially people perceived as black. Because we can’t admit our own biases and privilege, even to ourselves–because we are so defensive and fearful of being branded racist–we avoid the issue altogether, or we grow defensive or dismissive. We ask people of color to explain how our actions were biased and hurtful and, in doing so, we invalidate and re-victimize them; we prop up the systems that perpetuate racism and racial bias. We do this.
Make no mistake, overt and dramatic examples of hate and bias continue to occur, and they are indefensible. However, it’s far more common for racial bias to manifest in subtle ways: the white man who moves his wallet to his front pocket when a group of black teenagers boards the subway he is riding; the white woman who “notices” a black person driving an expensive car in a nice neighborhood and assumes the worst; the white man who “compliments” a black teen’s hair in a way that leaves the teen feeling different and singled out. The white colleague who can’t seem to wrap his head around the idea of a black Santa Claus, and his white co-worker who is so concerned with maintaining her own position of authority as Social Committee Chair that she simultaneously approves and invalidates the idea.
Black Santa attempts to explore the pernicious nature racism. It imagines what happens when a company’s Social Committee, dominated by well-meaning whites, is faced with a request that requires them to examine their white privilege. I was thrilled that the play had two full productions in 2019: Playwrights’ Platform’s 47th Annual Festival of New Plays (Boston, MA) and the Renegade Theatre Festival (Lansing, MI). It also had two staged readings: Fusion Theatre Company’s “Second Seven” (Albuquerque, NM) and The Association for Theatre in Higher Education’s New Play Development Workshop (Orlando, FL).
I did not get to see the Lansing and Albuquerque performances, but I was honored to have such a talented group perform the play in Boston: Joshua Wolf Coleman, director; Arthur Williams III (Marvin), Bibiana Jaramillo (Sue), Kathleen Monteleone (Jan), and Jon Shulman (John). Here they in their final rehearsal before the performances at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre:
At ATHE’s national conference in Orlando, I got to spend four days developing with this amazing team: Ben Lambert, director; Guillermo Aviles-Rodriguez, dramaturg; Jennifer Ivey, scenographer; Harry Waters, Jr. (Marvin), Natasha Yannacanedo (Sue), Julienne Greer (Jan), and George Nelson (John). It culminated with a terrific and well-received reading. I came away with a better script and an even deeper appreciation for the collaborative nature of theatre.
You can read, recommend, and request rights to produce Black Santa and my other plays at New Play Exchange.