Playwright Dominique Morisseau brings us home when mother & son take front and center:
NYA: I will take a bullet for you. I will suffocate the sun for you. I will steal the sky for you. I will blind Moses for you. I will strip the wind and the rain and the forests for you. Before I let you die or rot or lose your freedom, I will surrender my own….Tell me how to save you….Because I have listened to everyone else. I’m ready to listen to you. Guide me…. … … … I’m going to sit here. And wait for instructions.
Nya is raising her son Omari in the US culture that is so stacked against him that even the language his family uses overlooks that he is a teenage boy growing into a young man. The language is subtle, sometimes Omari points it out, and other times, among other characters, no one points it out. Objectifying Omari is so inherent in US culture that Nya calls the rage it elicits as his inheritance.
In a brief sentence, without giving away the story: Omari got in trouble in school and is at risk of going to jail. This is the pipeline Morisseau refers to.
For us mothers, the battlefield is here at home where we raise & protect & teach our children to love & enjoy life while they navigate this quagmire of weapons that they can’t see.
Pipeline shows this family (USA).
Sweat shows another (USA).
And The Ghosts of Lote Bravo shows another (Mexico).
In 2018, I’m so proud of Pittsburgh theaters for producing Sweat and Pipeline.
Maybe next year, one can produce The Ghosts of Lote Bravo – and continue broadening our horizon.
