This one-person show
played to a sold-out house for 8 weeks in LA (2005). Daily Variety
called it “engaging” and “stirring”…..”a
triple-threat talent.” Daily News: “memorable and
comic.” LA Magazine: “thoughtprovoking” Reviewplays.com:
“A MUST SEE show....knee slapping comedy”
Every Nigger
Is A Star follows the journey of a young Black man and his
father: the first Black publicist in Hollywood with the major
studios (Universal, Paramount, MGM and 20th Century Fox). The
show looks at where Black Hollywood has been and where it is
going (using various characters), and explores stereotypes that
Hollywood exploits and those that are unfortunately perpetuated
in the Black community. It is a comedic, poignant journey of
cultural and self exploration that people of all races have
connected with on a profound, universal level.
One would be
hard-pressed to find a more painful, repugnant, gut wrenching
word than “Nigger.” It is a word that has been used
for hundreds of years to spread fear and hate into the hearts
and souls of a people. It has, unfortunately, been used flippantly
so often in recent years that pop culture has permitted our
youth (of all colors) to feel comfortable enough to allow the
word to roll off of their tongues with ease.
There is nothing
flippant about the use of the word in Every Nigger Is A Star
-a smash-hit, sold-out, standing ovation show that ran in Los
Angeles last year and is being presented as a part of this summer’s
New York Fringe Festival. Some members of the press have already
refused to print the title, or any version of the title; perhaps
believing that there is NEVER a context or situation in which
the word could be used or scrutinized; however, if history has
taught us anything, it has taught us that hiding from a word,
not printing a word, trying to silence a word does not make
the word go away or lessen the pain when it is heard. Pretending
that the word does not exist, only gives it more power. It is
only by examining the word in the light that the scars of this
country can be addressed and healed, and this country has a
lot of healing to do. Ironically, Every Nigger Is A Star
is a celebration. The inspiration for the title came from the
Black communities ability to turn their history of oppression
and slavery into things of beauty: poetry, dance, music, civil
rights movements, novels-the list goes on and on. If Blacks
were given the feet and/or intestines of a pig, then they would
make a meal out of it-if they were forced to work in the fields,
then they would sing to unify, encourage and inspire one another.
It is this spirit, making beauty out of pain, that Every
Nigger Is A Star celebrates.
