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Alice Childress's groundbreaking 1955 play that examines racism in the theater industry.
About the author
Alice
Childress was a playwright,
actress, and novelist. She was the first Black woman to have a play
professionally produced in New York City. Childress’s works include the plays Wedding
Band and Wine in the Wilderness, and the young-adult novel A Hero
Ain’t Nothing but a Sandwich.
Summary
“A masterpiece . . . Trouble in Mind still contains astonishing power; it could have been written yesterday.” —Vulture
Ahead of its time, Trouble in Mind, written in 1955, follows the rehearsal process of an anti-lynching play preparing for its Broadway debut. 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. Scheduled to open on Broadway in 1957, Childress objected to the requested changes in the script that would “sanitize” the play for mainstream audiences, and the production was canceled as a result. Childress’s final script is published here with an essay by playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, editor of TCG Illuminations.
Foreword
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Additional text
“An original play, full of vitality… Miss Childress has some witty and penetrating
things to say about the dearth of roles for Negro actors in the contemporary
theater, the cut-throat competition for these parts and the fact that Negro
actors often find themselves playing stereotyped roles in which they cannot
bring themselves to believe.”
