Event

American Blackout

From street corners to Baptist church pews, AMERICANBLACKOUT is a modern-day journey through the labyrinth of sexuality, ethnicity and individual identity in the land of the free.

"This piece is my reflection on the experience of existing as a gay black man in the United States," says writer/director Robb Leigh Davis. "My experience has found that, more often than not, gay is recognized as white, and black is translated as not being gay.

The production journey of this show has showed me that while societal change drags its claws across time, individual transformation can happen in an instant. Thus, progress lies not in the posturing and doublespeak of politicians, preachers and pundits, but in the hands of the individual, and his or her daily commitment to improving the state of the world.

I describe it as a one-man show with a cast of five; illustrating the delicate balance of navigating life as a gay man in heterosexual situations, a Black man in racial arenas, a gay Black man in the world of gay white men, a gay Black outsider in hetero Black circles, and a spiritual being in a world that seems to demand I choose which of my identities is of greater importance.

James Baldwin once said that the paradox of education is precisely this: that, as one begins to become conscious, one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.

AMERICANBLACKOUT is my examination of a country unsure of its future, struggling through its present and, in a willfully ignorant fashion, turning a blind eye to the past."

Written & Directed by: Robb Leigh Davis

Producers: Robb Leigh Davis & Nicholas Petraccaro, BLAKKAPRIKORN PRODUCTIONS