Usher is a black, queer writer, working a day job he hates while writing his original musical: a piece about a black, queer writer, working a day job he hates while writing his original musical. Michael R. Jackson’s blistering, momentous new musical follows a young artist at war with a host of demons — not least of which, the punishing thoughts in his own head — in an attempt to capture and understand his own strange loop.
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2019, Playwrights Horizons, New York City
2020
Theatre Communications Group
9781559369930
Winner, Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2020
Winner, Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2020
Historical
In February 1969, hundreds of students occupied a computer centre at what is now Montréal’s Concordia University to protest the mismanagement of a racism complaint lodged by Caribbean students against their biology professor. When an agreement to end the occupation fell through, riot police were called in, resulting in widespread damage, a mysterious fire, and nearly a hundred arrests.
Realistic
The story follows Simone, a mixed race, 14-year old girl, curious about her heritage and identity, who is unsure how to explore it. When she joins the Black History and Culture Committee with Jay and Vanessa, she begins to understand the importance of her heritage and starts advocating to include more Black History classes to the school curriculum. The more she gets involved with the club, the more her friendship with her best friend Sarah decays. After Jay gets frisked by the police who suspect him of robbery, and their proposal to change the curriculum is rejected, the club dissolves for a while. This makes Simone think more and more about the casual and systemic racism they face everyday. After a while, Simone and Sarah make up, and Simone gets Jay and Vanessa to join a school sit-in protest. They get the attention of other students and the principal finally agrees to talk about the change in the curriculum.
