Arts & Culture The Black Experience with the American Healthcare System Spotlighted in New Play

From Tuskegee to today, Congo Square Theatre Company presents the World Premiere of How Blood Go by Cleveland-based playwright Lisa Langford. The play is a provocative story of two family members who are subject to medical experiments without their consent, 50 years apart. Infused with Afrofuturism, How Blood Go debuts at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theater (1700 N. Halsted Street) as part of its LookOut series March 11 - April 23, 2023

How Blood Go weaves the present and past together to explore the strained relationship between the healthcare system and African Americans in this country. Just when Quinntasia is ready to take her wellness program, Quinntessentials, to market, she learns that her healthy body is not the product of her hard work, but of a futuristic experimental device—activated without her consent—that makes her appear White to doctors and nurses. She must decide if she’s willing to give up her Blackness to make her dream come true. Meanwhile, Bean and his brother, Ace, experience unethical medical treatment in the American South (the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment 1930-1970).

Under the direction of Tiffany Fulson, the How Blood Go cast features Congo Square Ensemble Member Ronald L. Conner (Ace) and The Chi star Yolonda

Ross (Didi), along with Jyreika Guest (Quinntasia), Kayla Kennedy (White Quinn/Frank), Caron Buinis (White Didi/Anne/Norm), Marcus Moore (Tron/John Brown), Kristin Ellis (Big Gal/Negress), and David Dowd (Bean/ Negro).

“While there are universal themes, this is a very personal story: my grandfather’s uncle was a patient in the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. Though that was decades ago, Black lives are still placed at risk every day because of the medical establishment’s casual disregard for our health and our worth. I hope that audiences will take away that the past is right next to us, and we ignore its lessons at our own peril,” shared Langford.

Infused with Afrofuturism (a movement featuring futuristic or science fiction themes which incorporate elements of Black history and culture), Langford’s fantastical work won Congo Square’s 2019 August Wilson New Play Initiative, designed to uplift, support, and give voice to the next generation of African American playwrights through produced staged readings and developmental workshops.