The second annual Obsidian Theatre Festival is coming back to downtown Detroit to highlight emerging Black voices in performance art. Since last year’s plays were streamed due to the pandemic, this is the first year we can actually enjoy the festival live and in-person.
Four plays, two musicals and two performance artists are slated for the weekend, including Detroit native and Kresge Live Arts Fellow Shawntai Brown’s play We Own Everything, which tells the story of three cousins who are trying to decide who gets the rights to their late uncle’s car over a game of pool. Other plays include Brandy Victoria Durham’s Wild Horses about a group of campers being hunted by an annoying “Karen,” and M.D. Schaffer’s Rodeo Clown featuring Edmund Alyn Jones (who did an outstanding job in Dominique Morrisseau’s Detroit ’67 at the Charles H. Wright). Detroit spoken word artist Ben Will, who has opened up for Rupi Kaur and Al Green, rounds out the weekend with an evening of music and poetry.
Performances begin Thursday, June 23 and are spread across three Detroit venues: Marlene Boll Theatre at Downtown YMCA, The Chrysler Black Box at the Detroit Opera House, and Aretha’s Jazz Cafe in The Music Hall. Tickets are free, with a requested donation to the Detroit Public Schools Foundation or Black Theatre United, or the GhostLight Arts Initiative. For more information including a full lineup and schedule, see obsidianfest.org.
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