I feel like that conversation also needs to be part of one that’s about the specific development of Black work. That’s been a conversation that’s been happening for decades.

Something that I think is not really happening in this country in a way that I sort of bemoan and I wish it were, is that we don’t really have any conversations about what Black artists are doing, can do or want to be doing. As much as we say Blackness is not a monolith, we don’t act like it. And so I always get confused because if we have a specifically dedicated theater for Black artists or people of color, I don’t get the sense there would be a lot of diversity within the Blackness.

And there would also not really be a lot of conversations or criticism because everything always seems like it’s in the terms of what white audience members think or white critics think, and I just don’t understand that. I feel like there should be more development of Black artists who can develop their work to say and do whatever it is that they want to and not worry about what anybody thinks about it. And it should be able to be Black art for Black art’s sake — whether you’re a Black artist who has a very specific mission for a Black audience, or if you’re somebody, like me, who feels like more of a populist and wants everyone to see his work but still centers Blackness.

So, if there were a theater that could take on the sort of universe of Black art without curating it one way or the other, I would be down for that. But I feel like in the current environment, it all seems to skew in one direction or very narrow directions within Blackness.

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