Review Roundup: What Did Critics Think of THOUGHTS OF A COLORED MAN at Syracuse Stage?

By: Sep. 09, 2019
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Review Roundup: What Did Critics Think of THOUGHTS OF A COLORED MAN at Syracuse Stage?

Syracuse Stage opens the 2019/2020 season with the world premiere production of "Thoughts of a Colored Man." Performance dates are Sept. 4 through 22. Reviews are in! Find out what critics thought of this new play.

Written by Keenan Scott II and directed by Steve H. Broadnax III, "Thoughts of a Colored Man" is co-produced with Baltimore Center Stage and two commercial producers, Brian Moreland and Ron Simons. Moreland and Simons anticipate moving the production to New York after its run in Syracuse and Baltimore.

The cast is led by Jerome Preston Bates ("American Son"), Brandon Dion Gregory ("Let The Church Say Amen") Tony Award nominee Forrest McClendon ("The Scottsboro Boys"), Reynaldo Piniella ("The Death of the Last Black Man"), Ryan Jamaal Swain (FX's "Pose"), Jody Reynard ("Summer") and Garrett Turner ("Half Time"). They are joined by dancers Ashley Pierre-Louis and Hollie E. Wright and DJ Chesney Snow ("In Transit").

Read what the critics had to say below!

Sunny Hernandez, Syracuse: The actors tackled subjects over the course of the night like gentrification, homosexuality, interracial dating, poverty, violence, and more. Moments of poetry and dance intermixed with the more serious moments of the show. These scenes were both visually and lyrically beautiful with choreography by Millicent Marie Johnnie and music by Te'La and KAMAUU. There were plenty of laughs too and the pacing of the production was such that the audience was fully engaged the whole time.

Ken Jackson, Urban CNY: Playwright Keenan Scott II paints a mosaic of African American men, our thoughts, feelings, hopes, desires, dreams and disappointments. Scott's writing layers these characters, giving each of them depth, context, and feelings as he carefully peels back their veneer to reveal all. His words would fall flat, if not delivered with authenticity as each actor carefully executes with precision; the task of creating relatable people from words of the playwright.



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