My Plays
The plays I write wrestle with the ever-present vices of race and marginalization in society; how those two-factors, and the interrelatedness of politics, socioeconomics and societal norms impact the underdogs of society. The underdogs created from circumstances beyond their control and other times born of the self-destruction in bad choices. My plays follow characters that must boldly navigate the nuanced circumstances of their existence in order to achieve their version of wisdom and the freedom inherent in no longer existing in the physical and mental spaces they, at one time, existed in.
Starchild (2m, 3w) - Full length ©
On a cool fall night, a team of scientists and political operatives call on Bo Lavender, a Black tech billionaire, with a plan to colonize Mars. A plan that will allow them to leave something to their descendants that their ancestors could not leave for them -true freedom. But the plan comes with a cost: all of Bo's wealth as seed money.
Leave earth behind? Leave everyone behind, including the majority of Black America? Who goes? Who stays? Who decides? These questions are debated, and what each person discovers about themselves in the hustle for a Black planet will change them.
Some Type of Ecstasy (4m, 4w) - Full length ©
The meaning of family is on trial after a business deal gone wrong threatens the solvency of a multi-cultural, multi-generational band of donors at a California plasma center as they wrestle with haunting pasts, the hard-scrabble present and uncertain futures.
Neon Boogie (2w, 4-5m) - Full length ©
1970. 28-year-old Neon June, a bold, calculating songstress, is on the hunt to get her career back on track after being derailed by a stint in prison. Neon, the daughter of a slain civil rights activist, runs up against the racial and sexual climate of the times. A woman who wants to write and produce her own L.P.? That’s crazy talk.
Ava, Neon’s manager, cautions her to get past her difficult reputation before turning the industry off with demands. Even Neon’s fiancé, Lawrence, a musician and Vietnam veteran, is doubtful. But Neon has a plan. However, like all plans, Neon’s is tinted with risk. Traumatized by her prison life, haunted by her family legacy, tortured by the boxes society designed for her, is Neon ready to pay the cost for a dream?
An Origin Thang (6m, 4w playing multiple characters) - Full length ©
The future has arrived. The inevitable is here. America undone. The melting pot boiled over; the tired, poor, huddled masses have agreed on a treaty to be free. Realizing an inability to compassionately live together, the races part, each controlling its own, re-named territory of a divided states. But en-route to a new way forward, every man and woman must wrestle with demons of the past and a present that seems frustratingly familiar. Is this new world paradise, a new hell or a vision of each?
Love Against the Sun (2m, 2w) - 10 min.©
Friends wrestle with demons and uncover secrets at the wake of a friend.
Ingredients (2m) - 10 min.©
A pair of Black auto-mechanics delve into their identities, and what makes a man, on a visit to a museum exhibit.
Speakeasy - (2m, 1w) - Audio Play ©; Full Length (3m, 2w) ©
In 1956 Leon Ivy returns home from a sojourn in Paris with a finished novel, a publisher, and big plans for his future — but times have changed along Central Avenue and his wife Bird and her new business partner, Daddy August, have enacted secret plans of their own. What are the costs of leaving home and what is the price of fighting for what you believe in?
For samples: https://newplayexchange.org/users/50007/khari-wyatt