NOTE: Even though many businesses have begun re-opening, generally at reduced capacities and with many restrictions, music venues and theaters in particular are likely to remain closed for some time. For any in-person event, check with the venue or event organizer to confirm details or for information about any health and safety plans in place. We are maintaining a list of cancellations and making updates as events are rescheduled for later dates. We have also added new listings for online events, including online theater and performing arts events and streaming concerts and music events.
Rastus and Hattie Recommended Free The Short List (Theater) Online
Price: Free
16thstreettheater.org
Berwyn's 16th Street Theater offers a free encore presentation of this audio play, written by Lisa Langford and directed by Lanise Antoine Shelley. Langford's dark comedy involves two contemporary couples (one white, one Black) whose friendship is threatened when it's revealed that the white couple has Black robot servants—relics of an actual Westinghouse project in the 1930s, which created "“mechanical slaves," one of whom was in fact called "Rastus." Langford adapted her stage play for 16th Street, and her story also weaves in time travel and the theme of epigenetics, or the theory that generational trauma such as slavery leaves a genetic imprint. Illustrations from Roy Thomas add to the listening experience. Reader critic Kerry Reid called the production "a fitting coda to a year marked by heightened attention to racial justice and institutionalized white supremacy."
Related Stories
-
16th Street and Strawdog examine racism and dystopia
Rastus and Hattie and Run the Beast Down bring nightmarish scenarios to virtual life.
- Oct 8, 2020
