MPR’s Euan Kerr talks with Minneapolis playwright and columnist Syl Jones about his social satire "Black No More." Jones says "Black no More" is a social satire about race, gender, religion, and science.
"Black No More" has been nominated for the prestigious American Theater Critics Association's 1998-99 New Play Award. The play was commissioned by the Guthrie Theater, and produced last spring in a collaboration between the Guthrie, the Mixed Blood Theater, and Washington D.C.'s Arena Stage.
SPEAKER 1: The basis of the plot is that a Black scientist has invented a machine, which I called the [? eraser ?] [? later ?] through which African-Americans can pass and come out white. And one of his old classmates decides to take that challenge and does it, and then basically all hell breaks loose in the social system in the United States of America. And the play really spoofs the whole idea of skin color as being important in our society and also issues related to hate and despair and loneliness and coupledom and a lot of things along the way. So we took on a lot of sacred cows, if you will, in the play, and it actually worked very well.
SPEAKER 2: Well, as you were watching the audiences watching your play when it was put on earlier at the Guthrie Lab, was it your sense that they really got what you were getting at?
SPEAKER 1: The interesting thing about watching the audience is as they watch the play was seeing people who were laughing so hard that they could hardly stand or sit. I mean, they were falling in the aisles sitting next to people who had a look on their faces as if they just smelled a rotten egg. And so the mixture of all of those things, all of those different reactions was quite humorous to me as a playwright. And I guess, it's what I intended, but it was really a shock to see people sitting side by side some of whom obviously got it and others of whom did not.
I think it's very important for the Guthrie that the play is being recognized because it is a departure from what is usually done here. And I used to say that before Joe Dowling came that the only playwrights who were produced at the Guthrie were not only white but dead. The fact is that Joe has completely turned that around. He's produced a couple of productions by his friend Brian Friel from Ireland, an important playwright and produced Black no More by me, just a local guy who is writing. And I think it really gives some leverage to the idea that the Guthrie Theater now with its capital campaign and expansion can do more new plays, more new work and hopefully win more recognition not only for the Guthrie, but for the community.
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