Slave Play

Slave Play is a three-act play by Jeremy O. Harris.[1] The play is about race, sex, power relations, trauma, and interracial relationships.[2][3] It follows three interracial couples undergoing "Antebellum Sexual Performance Therapy" because the black partners no longer feel sexual attraction to their white partners. Harris originally wrote the play in his first year at the Yale School of Drama,[4][5] and it debuted on a major stage on November 19, 2018, in an off-Broadway New York Theatre Workshop staging directed by Robert O'Hara. It opened on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre on October 6, 2019. In 2019, Slave Play was nominated for Best Play in the Lucille Lortel Awards,[6] and Claire Warden won an Outstanding Fight Choreography Drama Desk Award for her work in the play.[7] The play has been the center of controversy due to its themes and content.[8]

Slave Play
Broadway promotional poster
Written byJeremy O. Harris
Date premieredNovember 19, 2018 (2018-11-19)
Place premieredNew York Theatre Workshop
Original languageEnglish
Official site

Characters
  • Kaneisha – A 28 year old black woman who is in a relationship with Jim. She plays as a slave in the first act and she has anhedonia.
  • Jim – A 25 year old wealthy white man who is in a relationship with Kaneisha. He plays a master in the first act.
  • Phillip – A 30 year old mixed-race man who is in a relationship with Alana. He plays a mulatto servant in the first act and he has anhedonia.
  • Alana – A 36 year old white woman who is in a relationship with Phillip. She plays a mistress in the first act.
  • Dustin – A 28 year old gay white man who is in a relationship with Gary. He plays as an indentured servant in the first act.
  • Gary – A 27 year old gay black man who is in a relationship with Dustin. He plays a black overseer in the first act and he has anhedonia.
  • Teá – A 26 year old mixed-race woman who is in a relationship with Patricia. She studies black feminism and queer theory, and is holding a study in Racialized Inhibiting Disorder in interracial couples with Patricia.
  • Patricia – A 30 year old light brown woman who is in a relationship with Teá. She studies cognitive psychology, and is holding a study in Racialized Inhibiting Disorder in interracial couples with Teá.[9]

Plot

Act One: "Work"

The first act, "Work",[10] begins at McGregor Plantation, a southern cotton plantation in pre-Civil War Virginia. The first act chronicles three private meetings of three interracial couples, each of which ends in sex. The play begins with the song "Work" by Rihanna playing in the McGregor's overseer cottage. [11] The first character introduced is Kaneisha, a slave.[11] She begins to twerk to the song when Jim, an overseer, walks in holding a whip.[11] Jim proceeds to comment on how unclean the room is, and questions Kaneisha on why she did not clean it better.[11] He then throws a cantaloupe on the ground, calling it a watermelon and asking Kaneisha to eat it.[11] After Jim cracks his whip, Kaneisha begins to eat the cantaloupe off the ground in a dog-like manner.[11] While she is eating off the floor, she begins to dance again, which confuses Jim, but also arouses him.[11] Overseer Jim then initiates sex with enslaved Kaneisha.[12] Jim places Kaneisha's hands on his erection, and he proceeds to perform cunnilingus while she asks to be called a  "nasty, lazy negress."[11]

The scene then transitions to the boudoir of Madame McGregor, the wife of Master McGregor.[11] Madame McGregor, or Alana, calls upon Phillip, her mulatto servant. Alana asks Phillip to play the fiddle.[11] Phillip begins to play Beethoven's Op. 132. Alana stops him, calling European music boring, and asks him to play 'negro' music (19-20).[11] Phillip begins to play the song “Ignition” by R. Kelly on his fiddle.[11] While he plays, Alana begins to dance suggestively, and she jumps on top of Phillip and begins grinding him.[11] She starts to say that she is under Phillip's mulatto spell, and that she wants to be inside of him (22).[11] She then uses a dildo to penetrate him, asking him if he likes being in the woman's position.[13] Phillip replies that he is unsure. [11]

The audience is then introduced to the last couple in the McGregor's barn.[11] There, Dustin, a white indentured servant, and Gary, are together.[11] Gary is in charge of Dustin.[11] While resting, Gary begins to taunt Dustin, especially with his status as an indentured servant.[11] Gary finds it humorous how he, a black man, is in charge of a white man.[11] Gary and Dustin fall into each other in a bale of cotton.[11] Gary proceeds to kick Dustin down, where he asks Dustin to dust his boot.[11] Gary begins to call Dustin the nickname Boot Dustin, where he tells Dustin that because he is an indentured servant, he is lesser than other white people.[11] The song “Multi-Love” by Unknown Mortal Orchestra begins to play overhead. Dustin fights with Gary before they engage in sexual intimacy.[2] Dustin licks Gary's face, and begins to grope Gary.[11] Dustin eventually kisses Gary, and Gary asks him to get on the ground, hinting that he is asking Dustin to perform oral sex.[11] When Dustin lowers his face to Gary's crotch, Gary places his boot in Dustin's mouth, causing Gary to have an orgasm, and then starts crying.[11]

The play shifts back to the other couples, where Phillip keeps playing music that Alana does not like on his fiddle, and Kaneisha and Jim are engaged in doggy style sex.[11] Kaneisha is beginning to near orgasm when Kaneisha asks to be called a "negress."[11] Jim begins to call Kaneisha a negress, but near Kaneisha's orgasm, he stops.[11] Jim then transitions in a British accent and then tells Kaneisha that he is not comfortable calling her a negress.[11] Jim uses the safeword,[12] which is Starbucks.[11]

All of a sudden, new characters in modern clothing, Patricia and Teá (also of different races[13]) come into the room.[11] They recommend for everyone, all six characters, to meet back at the main house soon.[11] By the end of the act, it is revealed, or the audience is told, that in reality the characters are modern couples participating in a role-playing exercise meant to improve intimacy between white and black partners.[12]

Act Two: "Process"

The second act, "Process", is dedicated to a group therapy session among the three couples.[10] The two speak through using affirmations and academic jargon for most of the session.[14] It is revealed that they are on Day Four of the therapy. Teá states that the therapy is meant to treat anhedonia, or the inability to experience sexual pleasure. Day 4 focuses specifically on fantasy play.[14] Dustin begins by noting how Gary came (something he could not do before), though Gary rebounds by saying that Dustin was uncomfortable in making his whiteness hypervisible.[14]

Alana then jumps in and begins speaking about how she enjoyed playing the role of mistress, and asks Phillip if he enjoyed it too.[14] She notes how Phillip got an erection when he has had trouble before.[14] Jim keeps interrupting people with laughter, and Teá asks him to unpack his thoughts and emotions, especially since he was the one who said the safe word.[14]

Jim is confused and overwhelmed by the therapy.[14] Teá clarifies, stating how the therapy is titled Antebellum Sexual Performance Therapy.[14] She notes how the therapy was designed to help black partners feel pleasure again with their white partners.[14] Jim is uncomfortable with playing the role of the slave overseer and finds the experience traumatizing for him and his wife, which frustrates Kaneisha.[14] He begins to point out how he feels like he is ruining his relationship with Kaneisha, even while he keeps talking over her desires and shaming the other participants.[14] Kaneisha then voices how she felt betrayed.[14]

After Patricia and Teá read back to the group what they said, Alana points out how mostly white men are speaking, and Dustin proclaims that he is not white.[14] Dustin and Gary get back into an old feud about Dustin wanting to move into a more gentrified neighborhood.[14] Their dialogue showcases interracial relationships between gay couples, and how Dustin does not see his own whiteness, and by self-identifying as not-white he erases Gary.[14]

Phillip, who has not spoken much, respond on how the therapy seems fake to him.[14] Alana starts speaking over him, going on about how she is still upset about Jim saying the safe word.[14]

Patricia and Teá, then, begins to explain the origins of Antebellum Sexual Performance Therapy in treating anhedonia.[14] The two of them shaped it as their thesis together at Smith and Yale.[14] Patricia, who keeps talking over Teá, explains how they are a couple.[14] They state that anhedonia is caused by racial trauma, passed down through history.[14] They explain that black partners not being able to orgasm in sex with their white partners is because of “Racialized Inhibiting Disorder."[14] They mention how Teá experienced anhedonia with Patricia, and it was through fantasy play that she worked out her race trauma.[14] We learn that, with Teá's background in black feminism and queer theory, and Patricia's background in cognitive psychology, that they are foregrounding the study through their academic background and experiences in their own relationship.[14] They mention a list of symptoms associated with Racialized Inhibiting Disorder, like anxiety and musical obsession disorder.[14]

Phillip brings up how none of his partners are able to see him as black, and that he struggles with being mixed race.[14] Gary then asks about why music was playing during the fantasy play.[14] Teá responds on how they did not play music during the play, and that certain people have relationships between their race and particular songs.[14] Kaneisha then brings up how she felt in control during the fantasy play, and how Jim took that away from her when he used the safe word, and Gary agrees with her, though Phillip does not.[14] It is revealed that Phillip and Alana met because her ex-husband had a cuckold fetish, and that when he was with her under those pretenses, he felt sexually excited because he was viewed as black.[14] Now, though Alana keeps saying it had nothing to do with race, he is in a relationship with Alana and feels like he is not raced anymore.[14] Alana breaks down, and Gary confronts Dustin, asking why he always says he is not white.[14] Gary says that he does not know why he is there anymore, and he and Dustin almost get into a fight before Patricia and Teá break it up.[14]

Jim starts to read something he wrote on his phone.[14] He does not understand why Kaneisha looks at him with disgust, nor does he know what he is supposed to do about it.[14] Kaneisha validates what he says, calling him “a virus."[14] She tells him that he does not listen to her, and she now that the problem in their relationship is not in her, but in Jim's race.[14] She refers in particular to the extermination of the indigenous peoples of the Americas by European colonialists.[2] She confronts Patricia and Teá, saying they are wrong with their theorizations of black desire.[14]

The act ends with “Work” by Rihanna playing again over the speakers.[14]

Act Three: "Exorcise"

In the third act, "Exorcise",[10] the focus shifts back to Jim and Kaneisha. Kaneisha is seen packing in a room when Jim comes in.[15] Jim and Kaneisha talk through their feelings about the therapy, and recount how they met.[15] Moreover, Kaneisha reflects on her childhood, specifically on having to visit plantations her whole life through school field trips.[15] She tells him that she fell in love with him, a white man, because he was not American.[15] Jim begins to initiate foreplay when Kaneisha says that the relationship went downhill three years ago (this is when she stopped feeling sexual pleasure).[15] It was then that she began to recognize Jim's whiteness and power, even though he did not.[15] She states how reading about Antebellum Sexual Performance Therapy made her feel sexual again, and Jim pushes her down.[15] Jim returns to his overseer role and orders Kaneisha to have sex with him, until she says the safeword and they stop. Kaneisha thanks Jim for listening.[16]

Themes

Slave Play deals with the themes of race, sex, power relations, trauma, and interracial relationships.[2][3] Lapacazo Sandoval has written about how the play provides a real look at racism in America, especially in how racism persists even past the abolition of slavery.[3] The play, then, attempts to uncover current racism and microaggressions through the lens of slavery.[3] Aisha Harris further writes how the play “bluntly confronts the lingering traumas of slavery on black Americans."[17] Through using psychoanalysis as a reoccurring theme in the play, Jeremy O. Harris shows how slavery still impacts both the mental states, and the relationships, of black people in the present.[17] By staging a conversation between slavery and the present, the play uses the theme of time and history to depict how the trauma of slavery persists.[17] As Tonya Pinkins writes, racism does not have a safe word in the play, and throughout the narrative, white characters are forced to recognize their historical and social locations in relation to their partners.[8] For example, the play dwells on the impact of black erasure in interracial relationships.[10] Throughout the narrative, the white partners are incapable of recognizing, or naming, their partners race, rather it is because of guilt, or because they get defensive.[10] By placing sex and racial dynamics in juxtaposition through the Antebellum Sexual Performance Therapy, the play makes whiteness, and white privilege, hyper visible in interracial relationships.[10] Soraya Nadia McDonald points out how the play works to uncover racial innocence.[13] Racial innocence is the concept that white people are innocent of race, and therefore they are racially neutral.[18] By placing the white characters in the position of the master, the mistress, or the indentured servant, the play makes whiteness visible to the white characters.[13]

History
Author Jeremy O. Harris
Director of New York Theatre Workshop and Broadway productions Robert O'Hara

Author Jeremy O. Harris has said that he wrote Slave Play during his first year at the Yale School of Drama.[5] (Harris graduated in 2019.)[19] In October 2017, a production of Slave Play was presented at the Yale School of Drama as part of the annual Langston Hughes Festival.[20][21]

The play was announced for the 2018-2019 season of the New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW)[22] and was taken into the development program of the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.[23][24] Later that month, Robert O'Hara[25] who had known Harris since his brief studies at De Paul University and was one of his teachers at Yale,[26] was announced as director.[27] At the end of July 2018, the first public reading of the work was held at the conference.[28]

Previews of the production at NYTW, under the patronage of the production company Seaview Productions, began on November 19, 2018.[29] Due to high demand, the duration of the show's run was extended before the official December 9 premiere, with the final performance being postponed from the original closing date of December 30, 2018, to January 13, 2019.[30] Over the next two weeks, tickets for all performances sold out.[31][32]

On September 18, 2019, the play ran and hosted a Broadway Blackout night where the audience consisted of only black identified artists, writers, or students.[33] The play began its Broadway run at the John Golden Theatre in October 2019.[34][35] The play opened its 17-week limited Broadway engagement on October 6, 2019, and closed as scheduled on January 19, 2020.[35][36] Harris and his team promised that 10,000 tickets would be sold at $39 in an effort to diversify the crowd.[37]

In June 2020, the producers and creative team of Slave Play made a donation of $10,000 to the National Bailout Fund and released a statement in support of Black Lives Matter.[38]

Roles and principal casts
Character Off-Broadway
(2018)		 Broadway
(2019)
Kaneisha Teyonah Parris Joaquina Kalukango
Jim Paul Alexander Nolan
Phillip Sullivan Jones
Alana Annie McNamara
Dustin James Cusati-Moyer
Gary Ato Blankson-Wood
Teá Chalia La Tour
Patricia Irene Sofia Lucio

Reception

Reception to Slave Play has been polarizing.[3][8] Due to themes revolving around sexuality and slavery, reviewers have either defended the play or criticized it.[39] In particular, O. Harris believes that making a play palatable would be buying into respectability politics, and reviewers such as Tim Teeman and Soraya Nadia McDonald have noted how Slave Play's explicit nature is utilized to critique racism in the United States.[10][13][39]

There have been petitions to shut down Slave Play because of its themes.[40] In particular, audience members and writers have criticized the play for its treatment of black women characters, and voicing how it disrespects the violent history of rape in chattel slavery.[40] In 2018, a petition was started titled "Shutdown Slave Play," with the petitioner describing the play as traumatizing and exploitative of human atrocities.[40] Critic Elisabeth Vincentelli noted the similarities between the themes and style of Slave Play and those of the plays An Octoroon (2014) and Underground Railroad Game (2016).[41][42]

Despite the controversy, many reviewers have met the play with acclaim.[8] Peter Marks describes the play as funny and scalding, while Sara Holden writes how Harris manages to make every character an archetype while at the same time making them have depth.[43][12] Positive reviews of the play herald Slave Play as both confronting racism and unpacking the nuances of interracial relationships, while citing it as comedic and entertaining.[43][12] Aisha Harris wrote about the experience of seeing Slave Play as a black woman, stating that the uncomfortable narrative of the play allows for productive thought.[17]

Other reviewers, though, have reviewed the play negatively. Thom Geier reviewed the play as intentionally designed to provoke, and calls the play uneven.[2] Juan Michael Porter II, a black theater writer, reviewed the play as being consisted of oversimplified confessions meant to titillate the audience.[44]

Awards and nominations

Original Off-Broadway production
Year Award Category Nominee Result
2019 Lucille Lortel Awards[6] Best Play Nominated
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play Ato Blankson-Wood Nominated
Drama Desk Award[7] Outstanding Lighting Design for a Play Jiyoun Chang Nominated
Outstanding Fight Choreography Claire Ward Won
Outer Critics Circle Award[45] John Gassner Award Jeremy O. Harris Nominated

Original Broadway production
Year Award Category Nominee Result
2020 Drama League Awards[46] Outstanding Production of a Play Nominated
Distinguished Performance Award Ato Blankson-Wood Nominated
Outer Critics Circle Award[47] Outstanding Actress in a Play Joaquina Kalukango Honoree
GLAAD Media Award[48] Outstanding Broadway Production Pending

References
  1. Megarry, Daniel. “Jeremy O. Harris.” Gay Times (09506101), Mar. 2019, pp. 32–35.
  2. Geier, Thom (2018-12-09). "'Slave Play' Theater Review: A Twisty Play That's One Giant Trigger Warning". The Wrap. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  3. Lapacazo Sandoval, Contributing Writer. "'Slave Play' by Jeremy O. Harris a Real Look at Racism in America —Opening on Broadway, Oc-Tober 6." Los Angeles Sentinel (CA), 9 Oct. 2019.
  4. Daniels, Karu F. (2019-01-07). "Rising Playwright Jeremy O. Harris Addresses Backlash Over Controversial Slave Play". The Root. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  5. Cuby, Michael (2019-03-08). "For Jeremy O. Harris, Playwriting Is Just the Beginning". them. Condé Nast. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  6. Gans, Andrew (2019-04-03). "Nominations for 34th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards Announced; Carmen Jones and Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future Lead the Pack". Playbill. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  7. Fierberg, Ruthie (2019-07-02). "Tootsie, Hadestown, and The Ferryman Lead 2019 Drama Desk Award Winners". Playbill. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  8. PINKINS, TONYA. “Racism Doesn’t Have a Safe Word.” American Theatre, vol. 36, no. 6, July 2019, pp. 40–41.
  9. Harris, Jeremy O. "Slave Play." American Theatre, no. 6, 2019, p. 39-67.
  10. Teeman, Tim (2018-09-12). "What Makes Jeremy O. Harris' 'Slave Play' Such a Powerful Play About Racism". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  11. Harris, Jeremy O. "Slave Play." American Theatre, no. 6, 2019, p. 42-50
  12. Holdren, Sara (2018-12-10). "Theater Review: Slave Play Blends the Terrifying and the Tantalizing". Vulture. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  13. McDonald, Soraya Nadia (2018-12-14). "The subversive 'Slave Play' peels back the veneer of racial innocence in Northern whites". The Undefeated. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  14. Harris, Jeremy O. "Slave Play." American Theatre, no. 6, 2019, p. 50-64
  15. Harris, Jeremy O. "Slave Play." American Theatre, no. 6, 2019, p. 64-67
  16. Jung, E. Alex (2019-03-06). "How to Fuck With White Supremacy". Vulture. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  17. Harris, Aisha (7 October 2019). "What It's Like to See 'Slave Play' as a Black Person". The New York Times.
  18. Bernstein, Robin. Racial Innocence.
  19. Murphy, Tim (2019-08-19). "These Boundary-Pushing Playwrights Talk Theater, Creative Activism, and Turning Trauma Into High Art". Departures (magazine). Time Inc. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  20. Kafadar, Eren (2017-10-27). "Langston Hughes Festival: Giving Voice to New Playwrights". Yale Daily News. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  21. "Friday, October 27, 2017". Yale Calendar of Events. Yale University. 2017-10-27. Retrieved 2019-10-02.
  22. Clement, Olivia (2018-04-04). "New York Theatre Workshop Unveils 2018–2019 Season". Playbill. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  23. Cox, Gordon (2018-04-17). "Beth Henley, J.T. Rogers and Sarah DeLappe Set for 2018 O'Neill Playwrights Conference". Variety. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  24. Goldberg, Wendy C. "national playwrights conference — NPC '18". Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  25. Clement, Olivia (2018-04-27). "Robert O'Hara Will Direct World Premiere of Jeremy O. Harris' Slave Play". Playbill. Retrieved 2019-10-02.
  26. Simpson, Janice C. (2019-07-16). "In Conversation With Jeremy O. Harris and Robert O'Hara on Slave Play". Broadway Direct. Nederlander Organization. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
  27. "Jeremy O. Harris Talks New York Theatre Workshop's "Slave Play"". BUILD Series. YouTube. 2018-12-06. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  28. "One year ago today, SLAVE PLAY by Jeremy O. Harris (NPC '18) had its first public reading on our campus". Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Twitter. 2019-07-25. Retrieved 2019-10-02.
  29. McNerney, Pem (2019-07-31). "From Baked Goods to Broadway Productions: Shoreline Trio Tackles One of the Hottest Plays of the Season". Zip06. Shore Publishing. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  30. Clement, Olivia (2018-12-07). "Slave Play Extends Another 2 Weeks at NYTW". Playbill. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  31. Harris, Jeremy O. (2018-12-21). "The ⁦@nytimes⁩ is making me love ⁦@Mr_NaveenKumar⁩ even more than I did last month with this beautiful #tbt. Slave Play sold out but get a ⁦@vineyardtheatre MEMBERSHIP to guarantee a "Daddy" ticket!". Twitter. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  32. Peitzman, Louis (2018-12-21). "The Best Plays And Musicals Of 2018". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  33. Smith, Kyle (September 18, 2019). "'Broadway Blackout'". National Review. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  34. Riedel, Michael. "Hot Ticket A Captive Audience? Downtown's Provocative 'Slave Play' Is Proving a Hard Sell on B'way." New York Post (New York, NY), 2019.
  35. Lapacazo Sandoval. "'Slave Play' by Jeremy O. Harris a Real Look at Racism in America —Opening on Broadway, October 6.” Los Angeles Sentinel (CA), 9 Oct. 2019.
  36. Wetmore, Brendan (21 January 2020). "'Slave Play' Changed Broadway's Accessibility Forever". Paper. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  37. Fierberg, Ruthie (October 30, 2019). "Why Jeremy O. Harris' Slave Play Is Inextricably Linked to Rihanna: The playwright talks about Rihanna's influence on the Broadway play, texting in the theatre, the price of theatre tickets, and more". Playbill.
  38. Evans, Greg (4 June 2020). "'Slave Play' Team Pledges $10K To National Bailout Fund, Challenges Broadway Community". Deadline. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  39. Street, Mikelle. "No Intermission." Out, vol. 27, no. 4, Nov. 2018, pp. 80–83.
  40. B, Ashley. "Shutdown Slave Play". change.org.
  41. Vincentelli, Elisabeth (2018-12-15). "I have seen it. And i have also seen the plays it rips off, namely An Octoroon and Underground Railroad Game". Twitter. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  42. Vincentelli, Elisabeth (2018-12-17). "I'll rephrase: the play covers very similar thematic and aesthetic grounds the earlier ones did, just not as imaginatively or skillfully". Twitter. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  43. Marks, Peter (6 October 2019). "'Slave Play' Is a Funny, Scalding, Walk along the Boundary between Black and White in America". The Washington Post.
  44. Porter II, Juan Michael (15 October 2019). "Despite the Hype, I Hated 'Slave Play' [Op-Ed]". COLORLINES.
  45. Andy Lefkowitz. "Hadestown Leads Winners of 2019 Outer Critics' Circle Awards". Broadwaybuzz.com. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  46. "Drama League Award nominees 2020". dramaleague.org. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  47. Caitlin Huston (May 11, 2020). "Outer Critics Circle names 2019-2020 honorees". Broadway News. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  48. "The Nominations for the 31st Annual GLAAD Awards". glaad.com. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
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