Trouble in Mind

"Following the rehearsal process for a new Broadway production of an anti-lynching play, Alice Childress's wry and moving look at racism, identity, and ego in the world of New York theater opened to acclaim off-Broadway in 1955. When Wiletta, a Black actress and veteran of the stage, challenges the play's stereotypical portrayal of the Black characters, unsettling biases come to the forefront and reveal the ways so-called progressive art can be used to uphold racist attitudes and practices. Trouble in Mind is a prescient work that remains starkly relevant to the dynamics in the present-day theater world"--
“Painfullyrelevant… One is gradually struck by how bracingly prophetic the lateplaywright’s script turns out to be.” —Variety Ahead of itstime, Trouble in Mind, written in 1955, follows the rehearsal process ofan anti-lynching play preparing for its Broadway debut. When Wiletta, a Blackactress and veteran of the stage, challenges the play’s stereotypical portrayalof the Black characters, unsettling biases come to the forefront and reveal theways so-called progressive art can be used to uphold racist attitudes.Scheduled to open on Broadway in 1957, Childress objected to the requestedchanges in the script that would “sanitize” the play for mainstream audiences,and the production was canceled as a result. Childress’s final script is publishedhere.
Alice Childress’s groundbreaking 1955 play that examines racism in the theater industry.