Reckless Black Dropouts

by Kenndall Wallace

Four Black, twenty-something college dropouts– Naima, Raymond, Camille, and Jordan–attempt to return to their alma mater through the groundbreaking ‘Bring Black Kids Back’ Initiative, spearheaded by DEI Department Co-Head Nakhia Brown. However, in order to return to the university, they must first explain the reasoning behind their choice to drop out of the university-- with each student having dropped out due...

Four Black, twenty-something college dropouts– Naima, Raymond, Camille, and Jordan–attempt to return to their alma mater through the groundbreaking ‘Bring Black Kids Back’ Initiative, spearheaded by DEI Department Co-Head Nakhia Brown. However, in order to return to the university, they must first explain the reasoning behind their choice to drop out of the university-- with each student having dropped out due to negative experiences with institutional racism.

When it is revealed that the BBKB was only put in place to retain enough students to qualify the university for a state-wide diversity grant, the dropouts must ultimately make the choice of whether or not to go through with re-enrollment at the cost of being tokenized by their university; or back out of the program, living up to the stereotype of the ‘Reckless Black Dropout’.

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Reckless Black Dropouts

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  • Shaun Leisher: Reckless Black Dropouts by Kenndall Wallace
    “

    Didn't know if this play was gonna work for me with characters communicating mostly over Zoom but Wallace kept me invested in these people and their relationships from beginning to end. Wallace perfectly conveys that feeling we had during lockdown of being connected with others but still very alone. They upped those stakes by further isolating the characters due to them being Black college dropouts. Wallace so effectively gives each character their own moment but it's the ensemble moments that really makes this play shine.

    Didn't know if this play was gonna work for me with characters communicating mostly over Zoom but Wallace kept me invested in these people and their relationships from beginning to end. Wallace perfectly conveys that feeling we had during lockdown of being connected with others but still very alone. They upped those stakes by further isolating the characters due to them being Black college dropouts. Wallace so effectively gives each character their own moment but it's the ensemble moments that really makes this play shine.

    ”