KEEPING IT REAL #10

ON BEING A BLACK MALE PLAYWRIGHT

Being a Black Male Playwright by Levy Lee Simon

I accepted my calling, if I may be so bold to call it that, to be a playwright some thirty years ago now. I say “accepted” because in the beginning I didn’t see myself as a playwright. I was an actor who held playwrights in high regard, all writers for that matter. I didn’t see myself in the same category as “them.” I honestly put writers on a pedestal. I started out as an actor after graduating from Cheyney State College and made a lot of progress in those early days, performing in theatres around New York City during the 80s. I eventually landed a role with the Negro Ensemble Company and became a member of the Circle Rep LAB as an actor, shortly after, around 1988.

It was in 1993, while I was in Washington DC at the Kennedy Center, acting in the Broadway bound, “Pulitzer Prize Winning play,” The Kentucky Cycle, that I began writing my own play, God the Crackhouse and the Devil. Crackhouse was my third play, but it was the first play to put me on the map as a playwright. I wrote it on yellow legal pads, and it just poured out of me. When I finished it, I decided to share it with my good friend, director Mary Beth Easley who I had the greatest respect for. Mary Beth called a few days later, very excited. Apparently, she thought it was very good. We talked about asking Michael Warren Powell, artistic director at Circle Rep LAB about giving us a reading, which Mary Beth would direct. That reading led to a full LAB production with an incredible cast that included: Olivia Negron, Gary Perez, Bobby Cannavale, Benja Kay, Jerome Preston Bates, Novel Idea, Justina Machado, Elizabeth Schofield, Jay Barns, Russell G. Jones, and Nashawn Kearse. The production received an amazing response and indirectly led to me receiving a fellowship to the University of Iowa Playwright’s Workshop, which I knew nothing about at the time, by the way. It all sort of fell into my lap, as the saying goes. However, today I feel the opportunity was gifted to me by the universe. That gift redefined my life’s creative and occupational purpose, to this very day.

So here I am in 2025, some twenty-four years after leaving the University of Iowa for the bright lights of Los Angeles and Hollywood in 2001. I have had forty eight stage productions since then, mostly in small but notable theatres in NY and LA, with both White and Black theatre companies. My plays have taken me to other states and the Caribbean as well. Several of those plays have been presented at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston Salem, North Carolina, such as: The Bow Wow Club, Same Train, The Last Revolutionary, and The Magnificent Dunbar Hotel.

My plays have been nominated and won major awards over the years. The Bow Wow Club was the winner of the Kennedy Center Lorraine Hansberry Award for Best Full Length Play in 1998. My For the Love of Freedom the trilogy, received several NAACP Theatre nominations and awards, in 2001, 2002, 2006. Same Train received and OBRR award for Best Play in 2005 and The Stuttering Preacher was chosen as one of the Best Plays in the “2006 Theatre Yearbook.” The Magnificent Dunbar Hotel was highly recognized by Los Angeles theatre critics across the board, and became the longest running consecutively sold out play in the Robey Theatre Company’s thirty-year history. The Robey Theatre under Artistic Director Ben Gillory has produced, several of my works, including For the Love of Freedom, (Toussaint, Dessalines and Cristophe) The Magnificent Dunbar Hotel, A Heated Discussion, and A Heated Discussion – Revisited.

I have not had any plays produced on the mainstream American stage to this point. I take most of the responsibility for that because I’ll be the first to admit that the business side of show business, has not been easy for me and, I haven’t been so proficient at it. In 2001, I was fortunate to sign with one of the most powerful literary agents in the business, Joan Scott, founder and CEO of Writers and Artist Agency. She saw two of my one act plays Off-Off Broadway in NYC while I was still in Iowa City, and she reached out to me. I signed with her from 2001 – 2008, first with Writers and Artist Agency and then with her Joan Scott Management Company. During that time, we were focused on my film and television scripts, trying the make that money. We were able to option four scripts to Hollywood studios and production companies, and we had television projects in development. None of those film or TV scripts made it to screen so far but that’s another story. I could write a separate article about the film and TV side of it, and I probably will after this.

It's a tough business for every playwright, no matter what race, nationality or gender. However, I find that it is particularly tough for Black men of color. Yes, I am opening that door because it has been my reality. Since Joan Scott and I departed ways, amicably I might add, (RIP-2024) I have had difficulty making submissions and doing all those things that playwrights must do to get, grants, fellowships, monetary awards, and mainstream productions. (Especially without representation. I had to become my own representation.)

I find it odd that there has been only one heterosexual Black male playwright to have a production on Broadway since August Wilson passed in 2005, that I know of. August passed in 2005. I have to question if that is by accident or by design? After August, the retort from many regional and established theatres in NY and elsewhere went something like this, “Is he anything like August?” What the hey? Nobody is like August. And, I don’t hear them asking young white playwrights, “Is he anything like Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, or Edward Albee.” I relate to those playwrights creatively too, but I am nothing like any of them, including August. Nor do I want to be. I still admire their work though. Besides that, August Wilson is a high bar that most playwright cannot reach.

I know there are other Black male heterosexual playwrights out there. I know some of them. I won’t mention names for fear of leaving someone out. I will mention Javon Johnson who’s work I know intimately as I director. Yes, I do direct occasionally. I directed his play Breathe, which I consider to be a masterpiece. That play should be in every regional theatre across the country, but it has only had one major production. That was at Greenway Court Theatre in 2016. It was a very successful production and received glowing reviews. We were invited to the National Black Theatre Festival in 2017. But no mainstream theatre has given it a look.

So, what is my point, you might ask. As difficult as it already is, I feel that plays by Black male playwrights being viewed by the white gaze are neglected because the white gaze does not know how to see our plays objectively. We have a certain way of telling our stories and sharing our truth which may seem threatening to some and incomprehensible to others. There seems to be an apathy and fear towards our work from the mainstream gate keepers.

I submitted my play, The Last Revolutionary to Pittsburgh Public Theatre a few years back. Apparently, their process included a feedback sheet with a five-point rating system, five being the highest, one the lowest. They had two readers who sent me their critiques. It was clear to me who was Black and who was white. The Black reviewer gave the play all fives, while the highest I received from the white reviewer was a three. He even gave me a one for dialogue. Dialogue!!!!! Apparently he didn’t understand how/why the “Black,” characters spoke to each other so harshly. LOL … That’s when I knew he didn’t get Black men at all. It was a cultural difference, not a lack of character development or my dialogue. They passed on the play because it needed the white boys approval to get a production. The Last Revolutionary was one of the highlights at the NBTF, 2015. We shot the film version in 2016, and it premiered at the Pan African Film Festival in 2017. We got picked up by Indie Rights Distribution, and it can now be watched on Amazonprime.com, and other streaming services.

Why has it been so difficult for Black men to get produced when other non white genders are being produced with regularity, black females, lesbians, gay and queer. Are we being shut out purposely? Do our stories not matter? Does our view of the world not count? Should we not have a voice on the American stage? It’s surely not because we cannot write plays. That I know for sure. Those Gate Keepers again. I get so tired of getting form letters from my play submissions to major companies and organizations telling me once again how many play submissions they received how all of them could not be chosen. But yet I’m not seeing any Black men getting opportunities. If I am wrong I’ll shut up. Talking about DEI, well it’s surely doesn’t apply to Black male playwrights and it needs to be. There has been no equity and inclusion when it comes to us in American Mainstream Theatre.

My work is usually relevant to today’s socio-political world. I have lived a colorful life that and have existed in many spaces with many different types of people. This is the well from which I draw from. My work addresses issues of our society across, race, gender, nationality, color etc. I also write historical plays that have been neglected by the larger majority. The great thing about all of it, is that audiences from all ages and backgrounds seem to resignate with my stories. Not sure why theatre institutions readily want to ignore it. I can only come to one conclusion. The Gate Keepers.

People may ask why do you care? Why do you want or need their approval? Why? Because, it’s a matter of survival that’s why. Black Theatres don’t have the resources to pay Black playwright’s living wages and/or produce their works in many instances. White Theatres have the resources, and they are the ones that deal out the grant money and the award money that so many other playwrights are living off of, but seem to escape us. (The Black male voice.) Nobody can tell me or, make be believe my plays are not worthy. This is not me ego tripping. I have seen how my plays are received by audiences across the board, even for readings. Multicultural audiences have always responded to my work on an emotional and intellectual level. I just had three readings in NYC last week and all three received standing ovations. OK, one might question the standing ovations because audiences stand for everything these days, but the passion and tears are difficult to fake.

I see things going down creatively that I don’t get. Maybe that’s just about being a critical artist but sometimes I see plays on the mainstream stages, and I wonder how they got there. That includes plays that have won major awards. They will remain nameless for this essay. But my critical eyes don’t miss much. I pride myself on that because I have learned from the best. My mentors and teachers did not hold back, and they taught me to be diligent and truthful to a fault. Come to think of it, my mother was that way too. I am not waiting to be accepted. I was never one to wait for approval anyway. I remain committed to writing my stories for the stage as raw and authentic as ever.

Some people might push back and ask, what am I whining about, just accept it for what it is. I cannot suffer quietly and die. I tried and it doesn’t work for me. That’s like saying “shut up and dribble.” I feel the need to speak out about the issue and it is a problem. Maybe DEI can be the solution but first the powers that be must agree that there is a problem.

I was contacted recently by a Black theatre producer who said he was enamored with my work and seems to get me. He’s a passionate and ambitious person. He’s talking my language and we are on the same page. Let’s see where that goes.

That’s all for now. I’ll keep you posted.

Levy Lee Simon