PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Theatre in the X is presenting its annual free show in Malcolm X Memorial Park next weekend.
This summer’s play, “One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show,” runs Aug. 22-25. It’s a comedy about a middle-class African American family living in Philadelphia in the 1970s, whose lives are turned upside down when their niece, Beverley, comes up from the south to live with them.
“It brings up a lot of different conversations that are timely,” said Executive Director and Co-Founder LaNeshe Miller-White. “Getting people to talk about class versus north versus south versus income levels, and how we are treating each other based on those things, and what we're assuming about each other based on those things.”
“It is a very nuanced conversation, and especially if you're talking about it where all the people you're talking about are Black.”
The play was written by Philadelphia’s Don Evans, who died a little over a decade ago. Miller-White said his work is not often performed here, so his two sons who still live in the city were very happy to hear this play would get a new life in their father’s hometown.
“They called us and were like, ‘We're so excited that you're doing our dad's work. … He is a Philadelphia playwright, keeping that alive and doing it here is really important,’” Miller-White said.
Carlo Campbell, another co-founder and co-artistic director of Theatre in the X, is stepping onto the stage in this production. He said while it is a very Philly-based play, its messages expand to the larger Black community.
“It's got a cultural throughline that a lot of people of color — I say Black people, primarily, but people of color can identify with,” he said.
Director Maureen Henighan Booker thinks that anyone, regardless of race, can relate to this show, particularly the relationships within the family.
“If it is a true reflection of a human experience,” she said, “everybody in the building, everybody in the park will hear something, will feel something, will think something."
Theatre in the X aims to break down barriers that often prevent people from seeing theater, including cost, transportation, and comfort level inside a theater. They put on various productions around the city, but their flagship summer show in Malcolm X Memorial Park is free, close to their target audience in West Philly, and outside in a familiar, relaxed space.
Campbell said he and the other co-founders started the company in 2013 because they wanted to see more opportunities for Black theater workers in shows that weren’t focused on Black trauma. He said the group is a reflection of the people and the neighborhood they are built around.
“We are the community, the community is us. I just want to be a part of what I wish I could see. And hopefully, people are seeing what they wish they could see,” Campbell said.
Henighan Booker, who has worked with Theatre in the X previously as assistant director for “Dreamgirls” and “Zooman and the Sign,” says she appreciates that their performances show that Black stories are worthy of being told.
“It is our stories,” she said, “and believe it or not, our stories are enough.”
While the performance is free and BYOC (bring your own chair), you can donate or find more information on Theatre in the X’s website.