Aishah Rahman Unfolds Grief Inflicted on Black Families by Patricia L. Morin Aishah Rahman’s 1987 play “The Mojo and the Sayso” tells the story of a 1973 murder of a 10-year-old-boy in Queens, New York. The boy was shot in the back by a drunken plainclothes cop. They charged the police officer, and then…
Trey Anthony Unfolds Tale of Absent Mom, Angry Sisters by Barry David Horwitz How can a Black mother say, “I love you” to two daughters who believed she abandoned them in her native Jamaica when they were small? She was lured to the U.S. for a better life, but she had to work three…
Marga Gomez Tells Touching Tale of Growing Up Lesbian by Barry David Horwitz Marga Gomez charms with her wry smile as she regales us with the story of her Catholic school girlhood in Washington Heights, next to Harlem in New York City. For a bright young girl, it’s always a dark comedy poised between…
Dael Orlandersmith Weaves an Epic on Jazz, Harlem, Hope by Barry David Horwitz “Stoop Stories” could be called “The New York Odyssey” because playwright/poet Dael Orlandersmith has created a tapestry of encounters that bring to life real New Yorkers: a Holocaust survivor, a youthful poet, a Puerto Rican ‘cool’ kid, and an oldster seeking…