We missed you. We missed this. We missed the worlds that people in a place and words from mouths can make. Worlds that are our worlds and worlds that aren’t ours; people we love because we know them and people we love because we don’t. People. As we say: good people that might do bad shit from time to time —but what is bad shit anyway? That’s what this play is about. But it’s about a lot more than that, right? It’s about fathers and daughters and what we inherit. Wives and husbands and what we hang onto. Best-best friends and who we roll with. Black and brown joy! And Truth. Of course.
This is also a play about boundaries. Some of those boundaries are drawn in the sand by who it is that’s got and who has not. What you’ve not got can put you in a box, Specially when things get a little bit hot. If you’re short on your suga. But there are other boundaries here too. The natural kind, which are lighter. Sacred. Airy. Fine shining crystalline things… It’s not only space that can separate. Time can. Thought can. Can you feel we, reaching out to you in this note? And just on the other side, there you are. It’s such a simple barrier. And still…so much on the other side. The things you know, the things you don’t know, and the things you don’t know that you don’t know.
Worlds within worlds. Now let us draw your attention: At the very center of the worlds, two ten-year-old Afro-Latinas. Watch them now. They’re some special girls. One of the things that’s true about them: They don’t shy away from what is Don’t try to disappear the systems But say to them, “So what?” “I got things that I need.” “I got things that I want.” Wanting waiting willing; worlds within worlds within worlds—and at that center, maybe also at the outermost boundary, us, here, now. In your head. In this space. What is it that can draw these worlds together?
Green Suga Bloos
Keep an eye out for it.
We’ll see you soon. Got to make our circle, Make the magic, Draw a line that will ask to be crossed, for a cost. Again. As always. When you cross a boundary, you come into a different world; you never stay the same after that. So slow the show shimmers and shines as it shivers. Shush, now. Truth is talking.
—Nicholas Orvis, Production Dramaturg
LANGSTON HUGHES FESTIVAL OF NEW WORK | 2021–22 SEASON