Modern Minstrelsy

by Kermit Frazier

On a hot August night in a predominantly white community on Long Island, NY, an African American man shoots and kills a white teenager who with three friends has been chasing in their car that man’s 20-year-old son. That shooting triggers not only charges and trial but also the apparent “re-surfacing” of Nig and Jig, African American and Irish American figures respectively, who are locked in a seemingly never...

On a hot August night in a predominantly white community on Long Island, NY, an African American man shoots and kills a white teenager who with three friends has been chasing in their car that man’s 20-year-old son. That shooting triggers not only charges and trial but also the apparent “re-surfacing” of Nig and Jig, African American and Irish American figures respectively, who are locked in a seemingly never-ending struggle for agency, place, and point of view in America's history and psyche.

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Modern Minstrelsy

Recommended by

  • Eugene O'Neill Theater Center: Modern Minstrelsy by Kermit Frazier
    “

    It is the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's pleasure to recommend Kermit Frazier and their play Modern Minstrelsy as a finalist for our 2016 National Playwrights Conference. The play rose through a competitive, anonymous, multileveled selection process that took nearly nine months to execute. As one of 54 finalists out of more than 1,450 submissions, the strength of its writing has allowed this work to prosper in such a competitive selection process. Our readers especially especially responded to the structurally inventive theatrical frames and Rashomon-like storytelling.

    It is the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's pleasure to recommend Kermit Frazier and their play Modern Minstrelsy as a finalist for our 2016 National Playwrights Conference. The play rose through a competitive, anonymous, multileveled selection process that took nearly nine months to execute. As one of 54 finalists out of more than 1,450 submissions, the strength of its writing has allowed this work to prosper in such a competitive selection process. Our readers especially especially responded to the structurally inventive theatrical frames and Rashomon-like storytelling.

    ”

Development History

  • Workshop, Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble, 2014