Jeremy O. Harris

Jeremy O. Harris was born June 2nd, 1989 to a military family. He moved often before settling down in Martinsville, VA. Harris attended DePaul University and was working towards a BFA in acting, until he was cut from the program in 2009. He spent the next few years working around Chicago, until he moved to Los Angeles and began collaborating with playwrights. 10 years after getting cut from DePaul, Jeremy graduated from Yale School of Drama with an MFA in playwriting. Jeremy is proudly gay, and is very involved in various social and political movements. This is reflected in his work with equity. As of 2021, his play Slave Play is the most Tony nominated non-musical play in history.


Highlighted Play:

SLAVE PLAY

“At the MacGregor Plantation, nothing is as it seems, and yet everything is as it seems. It’s an antebellum fever-dream as three interracial couples converge to rip open history at the intersection of race, love, sex, and sexuality in 21st-century America”


Slave play explores sexual role play performed in the hope its participants will overcome their generational racial trauma.


POTENTIAL CLASSROOM USAGE

Audience:

Due to the maturity of the content and the graphic nature of the piece, I would recommend keeping work with this piece in a collegiate setting. Therefore, this activity is designed for a college level theatre course.

How this play can be used:

Slave Play raises powerful questions about intergenerational trauma and dating. This piece can be used to explore race relations in America and the lasting trauma of slavery. Furthermore, this piece integrates a physiological and psychological element as It explores modern sex therapy practices and the role of music in trauma.

Suggested Activity:

After students read Slave Play, instruct them to bring a pad of sticky post-it notes to class. Once all students are in the space together, instruct participants to write as many questions as they'd like, keeping one question per post-It. Next, have students post their questions around the classroom. To conclude, have students do a gallery walk to explore questions and thoughts that the work brought up for their peers.

Discussion Questions:

  1. This is a piece that directly deals with trauma. Do you agree with O. Harris’s choice to not give audiences a “breather” in not having an intermission?

  2. Discussing the perspective of the audience, who do you think this piece is written for? A specific group or everyone? How does knowing Broadway and theatre’s audience affect your feelings on this piece?

  3. What was your immediate response to Slave Play? Having digested the piece and learned about O. Harris, have your feelings changed?


Annotated Plays

Note - These annotations have been taken directly from Jeremy O. Harris’s website. The website will be linked in my references.

“DADDY”: A MELODRAMA

“In Jeremy O. Harris’ searing new play, “Daddy,” Franklin (Ronald Peet), a young black artist on the verge of his first show, meets Andre (Alan Cumming), an older white art collector, and before long their feverish link deepens into an irresistible bond. But when Franklin’s Christian mother, Zora (Charlayne Woodard), decides that her son is in peril, she enters into a battle of wills with Andre over the soul of the man they both call baby. Basquiats and Birkins, gospel and pop, and fantasy and reality collide around a Bel Air swimming pool in this deeply surreal exploration of intimacy and identity.”


XANDER XYST, DRAGON: 1

“Xander Xyst is a porn star. Yes, that porn star. The one you’re always hearing about. The one you fantasize about when you’re all alone. The one you imagine you are when you’re not. Tonight, he's on a date with Michael. They met online. Downtown, there’s Matthew, “Matt.” Matt is Xanders' brother. He's trying to start a band with Lena. They also just met tonight. Told over one night in Los Angeles and incorporating songs scored.”



Comprehensive List of Plays


FULL LENGTH PLAYS


"Daddy": A Melodrama (2016, revised 2019)

Water Sports; or, Insignificant White Boys (2019)

Black Exhibition (2019)

Slave Play (2018)

Xander Xyst, Dragon: 1 (2017)


OTHER WRITING


VICTORIA (2015) REVIEW for TwitchFilm


SEOUL SEARCHING (2015) REVIEW for TwitchFilm


DUDE BRO PARTY MASSACRE III (2015) INTERVIEW for TwitchFilm


NAZ & MAALIK (2015) INTERVIEW for TwitchFilm


BABYSITTER (2015) INTERVIEW for TwitchFilm


A WONDERFUL CLOUD (2015) INTERVIEW for TwitchFilm


ZOLA for Hollywood Reporter


Decolonizing My Desires for VICE


IMPOSSIBLE, OR "THE STORY OF THE STORY OF EVEREST" for The James Franco Review


Why Queer Art Can Learn Something From Anime for Out.com


In Conversation: Rihanna for The New York Times



Additional Resources

Jung, E. Alex (2019-03-06). "How to Fuck With White Supremacy". Vulture. Retrieved 2019-09-30.


Porter II, Juan Michael (15 October 2019). "Despite the Hype, I Hated 'Slave Play' [Op-Ed]". COLORLINES.


Harris, Aisha (7 October 2019). "What It's Like to See 'Slave Play' as a Black Person". The New York Times.


Daniels, Karu F. (2019-01-07). "Rising Playwright Jeremy O. Harris Addresses Backlash Over Controversial Slave Play". The Root. Retrieved 2019-09-30.


Paulson, Michael. “'It's More Money Than I Imagined.' So He's Giving Some of It Away.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Dec. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/12/23/theater/jeremy-o-harris-commission-philanthropy.html.


Knowles, Hannah. “A Broadway-Goer Railed against a Play as Unfair to White People. The Playwright Responded.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 1 Dec. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/12/01/broadway-goer-shouted-play-was-racist-against-white-people-playwright-responded/.

Mcdonald, Soraya. “The Subversive 'Slave Play' Peels Back the Veneer of Racial Innocence in Northern Whites.” The Undefeated, The Undefeated, 14 Dec. 2018, theundefeated.com/features/slave-play-theater-off-broadway-racism-peels-back-veneer-of-racial-innocence-in-northern-whites/.

Bibliography

Harris, Jeremy O. “Decolonizing My Desire.” VICE, www.vice.com/en/article/8qgm9g/decolonizing-my-desire.

Harris, Jeremy O. “Why Queer Art Can Learn Something From Anime.” OUT, Out Magazine, 29 Apr. 2019, www.out.com/art/2019/4/29/why-queer-art-can-learn-something-anime.


Jung, E. Alex (2019-03-06). "How to Fuck With White Supremacy". Vulture. Retrieved 2019-09-30.


Porter II, Juan Michael (15 October 2019). "Despite the Hype, I Hated 'Slave Play' [Op-Ed]". COLORLINES.


Harris, Aisha (7 October 2019). "What It's Like to See 'Slave Play' as a Black Person". The New York Times.


Daniels, Karu F. (2019-01-07). "Rising Playwright Jeremy O. Harris Addresses Backlash Over Controversial Slave Play". The Root. Retrieved 2019-09-30.


Paulson, Michael. “'It's More Money Than I Imagined.' So He's Giving Some of It Away.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Dec. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/12/23/theater/jeremy-o-harris-commission-philanthropy.html.


Knowles, Hannah. “A Broadway-Goer Railed against a Play as Unfair to White People. The Playwright Responded.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 1 Dec. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/12/01/broadway-goer-shouted-play-was-racist-against-white-people-playwright-responded/.


Harris, J. O. (2019). Slave play.


Harris, J. O. (2016). “Daddy”: A Melodrama


Harris, J. O. (2017). Xander Xyst, Dragon: 1

Mcdonald, Soraya. “The Subversive 'Slave Play' Peels Back the Veneer of Racial Innocence in Northern Whites.” The Undefeated, The Undefeated, 14 Dec. 2018, theundefeated.com/features/slave-play-theater-off-broadway-racism-peels-back-veneer-of-racial-innocence-in-northern-whites/.

Jeremy O. Harris, jeremyoharris.me/.



Webpage compiled by Lizzie Boscolo (2021)