The Niceties

Zoe, a black student at a liberal arts college, is called into her white professor’s office to discuss her paper about slavery’s effect on the American Revolution. What begins as a polite clash in perspectives explodes into an urgent debate about race, history, and power.
  • Recommend
  • Download
  • Save to Reading List

The Niceties

Recommended by

  • Nick Malakhow:
    1 Mar. 2022
    A sharp, incisive play that does an excellent job of rejecting easy answers and not taking sides as it discusses a fatal flaw (well, several) in discussions of race in America within "well meaning liberal" environments. The intersectional nuances connected to gender, sexuality, and generation, and how they interact with race deepens what already would've been a rich conversation. Also, I'm amazed by how Burgess is able to so successfully conjure a rich external world and socio-cultural context with only two characters onstage without it feeling overly "telling" or expository. Hope this continues to be programmed far and wide!
  • Emma Goldman-Sherman:
    1 May. 2021
    Wow! This is a great play that is so intense and intensely relevant. I got to see it produced by Interact online, and it doesn't let you go. The tension over the course of two acts is relentless. A wonderful exploration of the history of our culture and how white amerika would erase Black experience and does every day and still doesn't get it even when it's called out. A metaphor and a very specific response to 450 years + of oppression and racism and our refusal to see it and bear witness. A Must See!
  • Cary Simowitz:
    31 May. 2020
    The first ten pages of this play--the sample's offering--are incredibly compelling. I hope I have the opportunity to read or see this play in its entirety one day!

Development History

  • Reading
    ,
    Manhattan Theatre Club
    ,
    2017
  • Workshop
    ,
    Portland Stage Company
    ,
    2017

Production History

  • Professional
    ,
    McCarter Theatre Center
    ,
    2019
  • Professional
    ,
    Geffen Playhouse
    ,
    2019
  • Workshop
    ,
    Portland Stage Company
    ,
    2018
  • Professional
    ,
    Huntington Theatre Company
    ,
    2018
  • Professional
    ,
    Manhattan Theatre Club
    ,
    2018
  • Workshop
    ,
    Contemporary American Theatre Festival
    ,
    2017