Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids by
Inspired by his adoptive grandfathers, August Wilson and Norman Lear, Vincent Terrell Durham has penned the new play Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids. With the perfect blend of wit, humor, and pathos, Wilson and Lear invited audiences to sit back and eavesdrop on the human condition and the complexities of the times. Playwright Vincent Terrell Durham invites you to do the same by way of a...
Inspired by his adoptive grandfathers, August Wilson and Norman Lear, Vincent Terrell Durham has penned the new play Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids. With the perfect blend of wit, humor, and pathos, Wilson and Lear invited audiences to sit back and eavesdrop on the human condition and the complexities of the times. Playwright Vincent Terrell Durham invites you to do the same by way of a last-minute cocktail party hosted by a well-intentioned white couple in their recently renovated Harlem brownstone. With little input from her trauma surgeon husband Peter Castle, socially and environmentally conscious Molly Castle has invited an array of Harlem neighbors over for cocktails. The guests are Jaquan Wallace a Black Lives Matter activist; Jaquan's plus one; Shameka a businesswoman, and author; and Rita Dupree a single mother of a slain 12-year-old black boy. The cocktail conversations quickly reveal the various personalities gathered around the bar. Emotional debates ranging from under-weight polar bears, un-flushed toilets, saving the planet, gentrification, racial identity, and how best to protect the lives of black boys reveal how complex and varied the American experience can be. A near tragedy brings them all together, while another quickly reminds us of the times we find ourselves.