THE ELATION OF NEGATION
Written by Jordan E. Cooper and directed by Dawn M. Simmons, the Boston premiere of this Tony-nominated series of provocative satirical sketches explores various facets of Black life in the United States, challenging audiences to consider whether racism can ever truly be eradicated. It’s the kind of humor that leaves you saying, “I can’t believe they said that,” blending sharp wit with moments of profound sadness. The phenomenal performances capture and embody these contradictions, making for a powerful and unforgettable experience.
De’Lon Grant
What holds these very different sketches together is that the U.S. government has implemented the back-to-Africa program first introduced in the early 19th century in the form of providing every Black American with a reparations plane ticket to the African nation of their ancestry. Their flight will be captained by Barack Hussein Obama and co-piloted by Kamala Harris. Any who choose not to go—or who look back once their tickets have been scanned—will lose not just the melanin that colors their skin, but also their memories “of the soul [they] were, the dance [they’ve] been dancing, or the song [they’ve] been singing.”
Dru Sky Berian and De’Lon Grant
Each sketch concludes with most characters abruptly discovering that the last flight to Africa is about to depart. Like figures in a Rapture-style narrative, they hastily exit the stage, leaving behind those who either refuse or are ineligible to leave bewildered and disoriented. Grant Evan delivers a captivating performance as Peaches, a multifaceted airline employee who scans thousands of tickets while delivering impassioned soliloquies about the program’s significance and the behavioral expectations for various passengers. Peaches introduces us to Miss Bag, “the carrier of our entire story as a people”—a striking, expensive-looking gold handbag prominently displayed on a pedestal center stage, anchoring the narrative through the evolving scenes.
Dru Sky Berian and De’Lon Grant
The show opens with a stage set against projections of an airport tarmac with large planes in front of a 1960s-style terminal (scenic design by Mac Young). After a prologue where a disembodied voice encourages the audience to not only turn off their phones but to cackle and shout, we find ourselves in a church. A stained-glass window features a profile of Barack Obama, and a casket is wheeled onto the stage. Pastor Freeman (De’Lon Grant) delivers a fiery eulogy for Brother Righttocomplain. It’s November 4, 2008, and the United States has just elected its first Black president. In this moment, Black people have lost their right to complain, as there “ain’t no mo’ holleration or hateration; no mo’ blueish red light in the rearview mirror; no waiting for FEMA while the Louisiana sun beats down; no more dreams shot down, with blood soaking the concrete outside room 306. Ain’t no mo’ Riots. Ain’t no mo’ Rosewood … ain’t no mo’ Amos, ain’t no mo’ Andy, ain’t no mo’ Emmet Till, ain’t no mo’ Rodney King.” One of the many joys of the play is Cooper’s writing, with its rich layering of references and rhythms that evoke the history, culture, and struggles of Black people and racism.
MaConnia Chesser, Kiera Prusmack, De’Lon Grant, Schanaya Barrows, Dru Sky Berrian
The congregation erupts into an ecstatic religious frenzy, dancing even as the sound of gunshots interrupts Freeman’s impassioned litany. The scene shifts to reveal Miss Bag on her pedestal, soon joined by Peaches, who code-switches between a phone call with someone named Ladarious, who is running late, and official customer service responses to the invisible passengers anxious about their flight. Peaches will reappear throughout the play, following a scene in which Dru Sky Berrian, as Trisha, argues in a clinic waiting room with the father of her unborn child about whether or not she should have an abortion. Schanaya Barrows, also in the waiting area, chimes in, and we uncover the tragic identity of the couple as well as the heartbreaking reasons behind the decision to contemplate abortion.
Grant Evan
All the actors, aside from Evan, who recurs as Peaches, take on multiple characters in sketches. One standout, “Real Baby Mamas of the South-Side,” humorously satirizes stereotypes through the portrayal of three Black women who are depicted as having multiple children with different wealthy men purely for child-support payments. Kiera Prusmack plays Rachonda, a light-skinned woman undergoing a racial transition in pursuit of media success; she is clearly added by the show’s white male director to provoke the other women, but when the three truly Black women and the Black male host receive urgent phone alerts prompting them to rush to the airport, Rachonda is left behind.
Schanaya Barrows, Kiera Prusmack, De’Lon Grant and Dru Sky Berrian
We move to an elegantly appointed dining room, where an upper-class Black family—Jonathan, Susan, Marie, and Katie—speculate about the mysterious disappearance of their cook, Latoya. Amid their heated discussion about a potential move to Africa, the basement door opens, revealing the imposing figure of MaConnia Chesser. “Who are you?” the family demands. “I am Black,” she replies, launching into a rhythmic monologue. She explains that she has been locked in the basement for forty years, sustained only by money. “Black” urges the family to leave immediately and catch the plane, but they aren’t buying it. For them, concealing “Black”—their own blackness—takes precedence over their survival.
Schanaya Barrows
Back at the airport, women newly freed from prison are eager to be reunited with the children they haven’t seen or touched in years. Peaches is focused on loading everyone on the final exit flight and then, well, of course, there is no happy ending to this story, because what would the United States of America be without the music, the art, the heroism, and legacy of African-American history and culture?
The answer is implied in the title of this engrossing, fascinating, hilarious, provocative, and emotionally expressive work: Once all the Black folks leave, our American culture “ain’t no mo’.”
Dru Sky Berrian, MaConnia Chesser, Kiera Prusmack, and Schanaya Barrows
photos courtesy of Nile Scott Studios
Ain’t No Mo’
SpeakEasy Stage Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective
Roberts Studio Theatre, Stanford Calderwood Pavilion
Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street in Boston
1 hour, 40 minutes, no intermission
ends on February 8, 2025
for tickets ($25-$85), call 617.933.8600 or visit SpeakEasyStage
