I am really looking forward to Monday’s Blackboard… I’ve been around for the rehearsals of this fully staged reading and I feel as if Monday’s audience is definitely in for a wonderful presentation!
A white family has a black slave. Not during the civil war… Now… and we have a black president… should that even matter? While having a Black President does not mean that white families with black help have to get white or non-black help, it might make them look at the situation a little differently… especially after seeing this play.
Playwright, Amina Henry was examining Stockholm Syndrome. I was not very familiar with Stockholm Syndrome, but according to Wikipedia,
“In cases where Stockholm syndrome has occurred, the captive is in a situation where the captor has stripped nearly all forms of independence and gained control of the victim’s life, as well as basic needs for survival. Some experts say that the hostage regresses to, perhaps, a state of infancy; the captive must cry for food, remain silent, and exist in an extreme state of dependence. In contrast, the perpetrator serves as a ‘mother’ figure protecting the ‘child’ from a threatening outside world, including law enforcement’s deadly weapons. The victim then begins a struggle for survival, both relying on and identifying with the captor. Possibly, hostages’ motivation to live outweighs their impulse to hate the person who created their dilemma.”
So think about this through a racial lens, as Amina did – with a black female slave – white married couple … An America Family Takes a Lover
See you Monday @ 7:30!
(RSVP: info@blackboardplays.com)
-Garlia
