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Antoinette Nwandu, Drama

 

Antoinette Nwandu, whose “blistering interrogations of race, power, and violence range from symbolic to highly naturalistic works,” is a playwright based in New York. In June last year, Steppenwolf presented the world premiere of her play Pass Over, a mashup of the book of Exodus and Beckett’s Waiting for Godot that sparked a national conversation about bias in the theater community. Her play Breach: a manifesto on race in america through the eyes of a black girl recovering from self-hate premiered at Victory Gardens Theater in February this year.

*

An excerpt from Pass Over:

NOTE: This play should NOT have
an intermission. If Moses and Kitch cannot leave, neither can you.

 

MOSES

man
what’chu fixta do today
man damn

KITCH

man
i’on know man
what’chu fixta do 

MOSES

got plans
you feel me
big ol plans

KITCH

got plans to stand there
stroke yo dick

MOSES

man
fuck you man

KITCH

nigga
what kinda plans you got

MOSES

got plans to rise up to my full potential be all i could be
you feel me

KITCH

left
left
left right left

MOSES

yo fuck you nigga
dat shit ain’t funny

KITCH

yo moses man
i thought it was

MOSES

niGGa
man i got plans
to git my ass up off dis block

KITCH

off dis block here

MOSES

yeah nigga damn man
i ain’t stutter

KITCH

a’ight nigga damn

MOSES

a’ight

KITCH

cept
cept
you gittin up off dis block man where you goin

MOSES

yo what

KITCH

i sed my nigga
you gittin up off dis block
where you gon go

MOSES

kitch

KITCH

what

MOSES

dat promised land

KITCH

niGGa
promised land top ten
go

MOSES

nigga

KITCH

come on my nigga
less play

MOSES

man
ain’tchu tired

KITCH

jess go
go

MOSES

collard greens and pinto beans

KITCH

dats two

MOSES

nigga don’t play
dat counts as one

KITCH

yo how you figure

MOSES

iss one plate uh food

KITCH

one plate uh—

MOSES

nigga

KITCH

man
yeah a’ight

MOSES

one hot plate
of collard greens & pinto beans

KITCH

one

MOSES

brown bunnies

KITCH

two

MOSES

my bright red superman kite

KITCH

three

MOSES

drawer full uh clean socks

KITCH

okay see
now dats a good one
fo

MOSES

my brotha here wit me
back from da dead

KITCH

five

MOSES

yo moms here too

KITCH

six

MOSES

soft sheets
i’m sleepin on em good

KITCH

seven

MOSES

my woman next to me
she sleepin on em too

KITCH

since when you got a woman

MOSES

i don’t

KITCH

but’chu sed—

MOSES

iss da promised land nigga
if i wanna woman
imma have me a woman

KITCH

okay nigga damn
jess askin if you got candidates

MOSES

man i ain’t met her yet shit
but dats a’ight
i’ll know her when i see her man
bess believe

KITCH

yo moses
dats deep
i’ll. know. her. when. i. see. her.
yeah
yeah i guess i knew rochelle
was fixta be mine first time i
seent her too

MOSES

she ain’tchors kitch

KITCH

i know

MOSES

yo do you

KITCH

we git up off dis block
she fixta be mine

MOSES

ya
fixta be

MOSES and KITCH breathe together.

KITCH

a’ight man
you got’cho
eight

MOSES

world peace

KITCH

niGGa

MOSES

jess playin
man lemme see

KITCH

maaaaaan
how da fuck you spect
we fixta git up off dis block
pass ovuh

MOSES

yo kitch man
first of all i ain’t sed “we”

KITCH

da fuck you mean by dat

MOSES

i mean yo ass ain’t comin

KITCH

what

MOSES

you ain’t invited
nigga damn

KITCH

yo moses
dat’s fucked up

MOSES

yo
how you figure

KITCH

cuz my nigga damn man
you my nigga
you got plans
mean i got plans right wit’chu
moses
moses
i got plans right wit’chu right



from The Paris Review http://ift.tt/2IFvMxM

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