Trouble in Mind

Following the rehearsal process for a new Broadway production of an anti-lynching play, Alice Childress's wry and moving look at racism, identity, and ego in the world of New York theater opened to acclaim off-Broadway in 1955. When Wiletta, a Black actress and veteran of the stage, challenges the play's stereotypical portrayal of the Black characters, unsettling biases come to the forefront and reveal the ways so-called progressive art can be used to uphold racist attitudes and practices. Trouble in Mind is a prescient work that remains starkly relevant to the dynamics in the present-day theater world.