Odyssey: Race and Racism at The Broadwater

Levy Lee takes stage as an actor, performing his script Odyssey: Race and Racism. Its episodic structure allows him to move between straight narrative and spoken-word performance. He tackles the all-too-timely subject of racism head-on. It is in part a memoir of his personal encounters with racism at school, at work, on the beach. It is a bearing of witness to the repeated murders of Black people by the men in blue sworn to serve and protect them. In one sequence, a Black detective seeks revenge…until he finds something better. After indicting America for its Original Sin, he celebrates how Black Excellence emerged in America despite everything. He contemplates solutions to the problem of racism. The show becomes a profound expression of hope.

Juliette Jeffers directs.