Trouble in Mind

This is a great opportunity for BOLLI members !  Trouble in Mind, which played in 2021 at the Roundabout Theater on Broadway, is coming to the Lyric Stage for a short run.   We have secured a limited number of tickets for the January 31 2pm matinee at $45 apiece. Lunch at Precinct, a nearby restaurant, will be at noon.  To reserve your space and make payment via check, Zelle or Venmo no later than January 24, please contact Glenda Fishman at gstarfish@aol.com.  

The 1955 play by Alice Childress focuses on a company of mostly Black actors putting on an anti-lynching play by white creators. It was scheduled to transfer to Broadway after a successful run in Greenwich Village. But in a case of life imitating art, white producers insisted that the Black playwright provide a more upbeat ending. Childress refused. The play finally opened 75 years later on Broadway, in 2021.

The BOLLI Conversations on Race special interest group devoted a very informative web page (here) on this play and the surrounding history.  

The Lyric offers discounted parking at a nearby garage.  Here is information on directions, parking options and public transportation.

This is the Lyric Stage's summary of the play.

It’s 1955, and after enduring indignities and lost opportunities, Wiletta Mayer, a seasoned Black actress, is finally making her Broadway debut. Written by a white playwright, her star vehicle is the allegedly progressive “Chaos in Belleville,” which turns out to be anything but. Leading a cast of both younger and experienced actors, Wiletta challenges not only the soft racism of her white director but also the veiled prejudice that limits her aspirations and success. With warmth, humor, and sharp insight, this moving backstage look at identity and stereotypes cracks open searing truths about the American theater that remain heartbreakingly contemporary.