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And now, Rankine is a playwright, too.
When the couples son Alex attacks the group for their timid politics, the conversation turns explosive.
for mend race relations.
You flipped the question back on him: You should ask what can you do for yourself.
He didnt like that.
What about reparations, which are being taken more seriously as a campaign issue?
Is that an act of benevolence or something different justice?Its an act of justice.
And Eric says, No, no, no, shes lovely.
Charlottes one of us.
It felt like tokenization, because shes not one of them.Shes already been screened by the powers that be.
I was intentional with that.
Shes had the education.
What hes doing, hes doing on her behalf and how dare she not support him?
To me, Alex and his father are similar.
They just sound different [laughs] …
In the sons case, Charlotte needs to perform the rejection.
In his dads case, Charlotte needs to be doing a certain kind of work.
If you dont perform that, there will be no funds for you.
This demand for a performance reminds me of MoNique.
She decided to walk away to protect her integrity.
Ever since then, she hasnt gotten any high-paying gigs.Well I think thats fantastic, what MoNique did.
I thought about that, reading the play.
At one point, Charles comes to Charlottes studio, upset that she sold her work to someone else.
But thats her right!Exactly.
I dont understand the other black people who are telling MoNique that she shouldnt have done it.
Its almost as if they are admitting that their own presences are simply by the grace of white people.
The play starts with Charles, Eric, and Virginia watching the U.S. Open.
Serena Williams is playing.
Youve written about her inCitizenandThe New York Times, and youve spoken about her to PBS.
And Serena I especially love because she doesnt leave her emotions at home.
She hasnt turned into a machine.
And yet, she keeps winning.
It made me think of the consumption of black death in front of white audiences.
In terms of entertainment and art, there is the sense that the portrayal of this is valuable andliterallyvaluable.
You cant separate this commodity and supply-and-demand world that we are in.
So when the artist goes there, they are going there because the public demands it.
It was me in many ways talking to myself about my own art production.
What am I putting out there and why am I putting it out there?
How did it feel to see the play on stage?It was an incredible experience.
One of the harder characters to cast was Eric.
A lot of the actors felt like the white people werent given a fair shift in this particular play.
But then their friends told them they had to come and they were glad that they did.
Reviews have a lot of power.
Its sad that theBoston Globesent somebody who was so defended and defensive into the space of the play.
How did you deal with that?I expect that.
Im just showing you what I see, you know?
They dealt with these white collectors.
And yet people say, Well, nobody would say that.
But I didnt make it up.
