MALVERN, PA (KYW Newsradio) — If you’re a fan of movies like "Get Out" and "Candyman," People’s Light Theatre has just the play for you.
"Bonez" is currently in previews and will make its world premiere on Sept. 27. The show is a horror play about a group of Black men who gather to play dominoes at their friend’s apartment but are haunted by a mysterious thumping throughout the night.
Starring in the play are Elijah Jones, recently seen in Apple TV+’s “The Crowded Room,” and John Clarence Stewart, known for “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” alongside stage actors Eric Robinson Jr. and Keith A. Wallace.
The setting is a “deluxe apartment in the sky” — a reference to “The Jeffersons.”
“I thought, what a great way to isolate these men in a high rise or luxury apartment,” said Writer and Director Steve H. Broadnax III. “But then we also deal with ideas of white desirability, from this idea that if … people of color want better in our living situations … does that mean moving out of our neighborhood? And then if we move out of our neighborhood, does that mean we desire whiteness? Or do we just want access and equality?”
Broadnax has always been a fan of horror, but he says he didn’t see many Black creators in the genre until recently.
“I've only seen like Hitchcock, Wes Craven, you know, those white male practitioners of the field,” Broadnax said.
Now, with the rise of creators like Jordan Peele, with movies like “Us” and “Them,” and Misha Green, who created “Lovecraft Country,” Broadnax says “they have paved the way for me to then go, ‘Yes … this genre can exist, and it's popular. It can be effective.’”
Broadnax sees horror as an ideal genre to address the real experiences and fears facing the Black community, and in this case, particularly, Black men.
“Since colonization, you can't make this stuff up about what we've had to endure and experience,” he says. “I choose it to be an allegory on how to face off with these things … to say this is how you can face the demon, whatever that is.”
“In this case, I’m dealing with toxic masculinity and kind of the definition of what a man is, and that I believe that what you plant into little boys — Black boys, specifically — in their youth about who they are and what they're supposed to be will haunt them through their adulthood.”
“Bonez” was developed through Queerways, PA, an extension of the People’s Light New Play Frontiers program that’s dedicated to sharing stories from queer communities in Chester County.
The show will be on stage at People’s Light Theater in Malvern through Oct. 15. Tickets and more information are available on People’s Light’s website.
Correction: A previous version of this story had the wrong premiere date. The current version reflects the change.