*The (semi-post COVID) resurgence has some popping heads into landmarks thrilled but hesitantly looking both ways checking – is it OK to enter this place unmasked? And then there is the sneaky-relief when no body says anything. For play goers, the consensus is yes, just like movie theaters, Broadway Theater is re-welcoming Americans too and with a (Black Lives Matter type) surprise. Same deal for the mask though – enter at your own comfort or peril.
Right off the top, there’s talk about the The Great White Way (a nickname for Broadway in a section of Midtown New York) looking a little different. Ok, maybe a lot different. For Fall 2021 Black Playwrights exclusively dominate new productions. More specifically, all seven of the total new Broadway productions feature Black playwrights of which five are Black debut writers and four are Black women.
So, after a long journey, due in great part to the racial sensitivity stirred after George Floyd’s public killing by the hands or knees of the White Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, it looks like the ages-long concern that Blacks don’t get fair shot in theatre is (at least temporarily) pacified.
Along with the furor in response to George Floyd’s death, we can also thank Broadway’s major non-profits (including: Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Stage, the Roundabout and Lincoln Center – in collaboration with commercial theaters) for the all Black playwright show-out. Fall’s new productions showcase everything from social-drama, to memoir, to comedy. Play goers can expect new plays, revivals, and also work that’s somewhere in-between.
Though the battle erasing inequality in Theatre is far from over, the Black community can also thank the Broadway Advocacy Coalition and Broadway Black for their support helping Broadway theatre buckle into a culture of Black respect, inclusion and fairness that’s hopefully here to stay.
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Still, according to TimeOut in a season where across the board tickets might slumber (due to COVID; patron-hesitancy and scaled-back tourism), Black playwrights will perhaps now-more-than ever need support. Otherwise, without it “failed commercial appeal” might halt the sweeping Black love on Broadway.
Black writers scheduled to run Fall 2021:
Pass Over: August Wilson Theatre. Aug 4–Oct 10. Buy tickets at TimeOut.
Lackawanna Blues:  Starts Sept 14. Tickets go on sale Aug 10 at Manhattan Theatre Club.
Chicken and Biscuits: Circle in the Square, Sept 23–Jan 2. Buy tickets at Broadway TimeOut.
Thoughts of a Colored Man: John Golden Theatre. Starts Oct 1. Buy tickets at Broadway TimeOut.
Trouble in Mind:  American Airlines Theatre. Starts Oct 27. Tickets are not yet on sale.
Clyde’s: Helen Hayes Theatre, Nov 3–Jan 26. Tickets are not yet on sale.
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