A tale that was meant to be told over 60 years ago, Dawn M. Simmons brings to Lyric Stage Boston, Alice Childress’s unflinching look at the standards of 1950’s Broadway in Trouble in Mind.
Meant for a Broadway run in 1957, Trouble in Mind never made its debut after producers urged Childress to subdue the content. Childress refused, and after a successful Broadway run in 2021, Lyric Stage is proud to present this re-discovered theatrical marvel as the playwright originally intended.
It’s 1955, and after enduring indignities and lost opportunities, Wiletta Mayer, a seasoned Black actress, is finally making her Broadway debut. Written by a white playwright, her star vehicle is the allegedly progressive “Chaos in Belleville,” which turns out to be anything but. Leading a cast of both younger and experienced actors, Wiletta challenges not only the soft racism of her white director but also the veiled prejudice that limits her aspirations and success. With warmth, humor, and sharp insight, this moving backstage look at identity and stereotypes cracks open searing truths about the American theater that remain heartbreakingly contemporary.
Director Dawn M. Simmons says, “Have you ever read something so relevant, so fresh that you wondered who’s been reading your texts? That’s how I felt when I first read Trouble in Mind. It’s funny, “on time”, smart, and so maddeningly current I knew it had to be written by someone working in the theater today. But Trouble in Mind first premiered in 1955. I’ve put together a cracking team of Boston’s finest artists, and we’re gonna put on one heck of a show for you. Laugh, cry, and be outraged with us, but most importantly, be in community with us as we hold the mirror up to nature and take you back to 1950s New York, which sometimes doesn’t feel all that long ago.”
Performances begin Friday, January 12 and run through
Sunday, February 4.