Trouble in Mind (Director)

DIRECTORS NOTE:

“Dignity” and “Truth” are two words that have been thrust to the helm of this production since the beginning of the process. They have served as a point of departure for everything you see tonight from the words spoken, to the technical elements, to the embodiment of Childress’s words that are finally getting their due over half a century after they were written.

Every character you will see on stage tonight embarks on their own journey of dignity and truth. Wiletta Meyer, a portrait of Childress herself, lives on in all of us who refuse to water down our dignity and spew falsehoods for the sake of an audience’s sensibilities. And while this story is set in the fifties, my hope for all of us is that we can see how not a lot has changed. A lot of the humor in this show derives from seeing ourselves in its characters and it relies on us being able to recognize how absurd our biases are.

Alice Childress once said

“Everybody can be wrong sometime, and when you wrong you oughta stand up and be wrong right out, and not be hidin’ and lyin’.”

I challenge you to recognize any biases you might see reflected here tonight, and learn from them. Enjoy the show!