Plays
“American Gothik” is a theatrical adaptation inspired by my memoir “High Yella” and its accounting of the 40-year relationship between my Black grandmother and a White farmer who started off as her landlord and eventually became her lifelong companion. Their unique relationship influenced me to write this play.
The play is also an examination of the traditional American family and American identity as told through my experiences growing up as white-passing boy in a Black family. My experience of trying to reconcile my identity with that of my family was heavily influenced by my grandmother and her companion John who defied societal and cultural expectations to form a relationship in rural Western New York in the 1940s.
“American Gothik” has undergone a table reading in New York City and a full staged reading in Washington D.C. It is currently under consideration for several developmental programs.
