Kareem M. Lucas confesses his sins and reveals those of others in new solo show iNegro, a Rhapsody, (photo by Russ Rowland)
iNEGRO, A RHAPSODY
New Ohio Theatre
154 Christopher St.
Through May 14, $25-$75
newohiotheatre.org
www.kareemmlucas.com
There are only a few more chances to catch Kareem M. Lucas’s one-man Afro-surrealist show, iNegro, a Rhapsody, which continues through May 14 at New Ohio Theatre. In the fifty-minute production, part of New Ohio and IRT Theater’s Archive Residency, Lucas confesses his sins and shares his thoughts on the world. “I want to write something so Black that God can’t ignore me,” he explains. As he delves into Disney, religion, race, class, family, and other topics, he is tied to a cross. The concept is by Obie winner Stevie Walker-Webb (The Folks at Home, one in two), with direction by Zoey Martinson (Skype Duet, Gutting) and an original jazz score and sound design by multi-instrumentalist Mauricio Escamilla (aka MOWRI). The set, which evokes a three-dimensional Kehinde Wiley painting, is by David Goldstein, with lighting by Josh Martinez-Davis and costume design by Tyler Arnold. The name of the play recalls both Rubin Goldmark’s 1922 orchestral work for the New York Philharmonic, A Negro Rhapsody, and the title of the 2016 James Baldwin documentary I Am Not Your Negro.
Told in seven movements, iNegro, a Rhapsody is the first part of Lucas’s “3 Ages of a Negro” trilogy; his previous solo shows include Black Is Beautiful, But It Ain’t Always Pretty; Rated Black: An American Requiem; From Brooklyn with Love; A Boy & His Bow; and A Warm Winter. The Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based Lucas has dedicated the world premiere of iNegro to the memory of the late Craig muMs Grant, the well-respected poet and actor who appeared in such television series as Oz and Boston Legal and such films as No Sudden Move and The Price; muMs, who was Lucas’s mentor on the piece — then known as The Maturation of an Inconvenient Negro when they were working on it at Cherry Lane Theater’s Mentor Project — passed away in March 2021 at the age of fifty-two.