Marlin Thomas' REPARATIONS to Open at Teatro LATEA

Marlin Thomas, the acclaimed writer, academic, and New York native, will present a limited New York run of his new, daring play, REPARATIONS.

The production, which recently secured the top honor in the International Theater Script Competition 2024, will challenge audiences with its profound, unflinching look at the pursuit of justice for American chattel slavery and its enduring consequences.

REPARATIONS will have a limited run at the Teatro LATEA with three performances scheduled for Thursday, November 20 at 9:00 P, Saturday, November 22 at 12:00 PM, and Sunday, November 23 at 8:30 PM

The play centers on William McCrory, a white, wealthy, and seemingly secure man, whose comfortable life is violently disrupted by a knock at the door. Standing before him is an unexpected and mysterious stranger-a Black man who shares both William's name and birthday and carries documents detailing their shared, painful history rooted in slavery.

As the stranger's intentions are revealed, the play dramatically unearths painful histories, both public and private, forcing William-and the audience-to grapple with an impossible moral debt.

REPARATIONS raises, but deliberately does not answer, a host of urgent and contentious questions that resonate deeply in contemporary society:

• What does the present owe the past?
• Can historical injuries ever truly be repaired?
• What individual responsibility exists for distant sins?
• How do we measure the current, lingering effects of the past?
• Does repairing require forgetting?
• Should individuals be held accountable for the actions of their social and racial group?

The work has been lauded by the competition jury for its sophisticated writing, its balance between political ideas and character-driven drama, and its commitment to thoughtful discourse on a polarizing subject.

About the Playwright

Marlin Thomas is a celebrated writer whose background bridges the humanities and the sciences. Born in the Bronx and raised in the Queensbridge Houses, Thomas was educated at Queens College (CUNY), Johns Hopkins University, and New York University.

His extensive academic work, spanning literature, philosophy, and computer science, has been published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at international conferences globally. As a frequent contributor to Computing Reviews, his piece on Alan Turing: The Enigma was named the publication's best review of 2015.

As a creative writer, Thomas is best known for his full-length play FreudMahler, which has been published in English and Italian, and for The Middleman, a finalist for Best Play in the 2020 New York Theater Festival. His short works for the stage include Burqa&Rifle, I Never Heard Such Silence, Germaine & Diane, Coming Home to Roost, Speak the Good English, and Queensbridge, the latter of which he is developing into a full-length play.