Photos: Isseu Diouf Campbell
Educator, actor and cultural activist Yaa Asantewaa Nzingha led a troop of seasoned performers who provided a reading of Douglas Turner Ward’s production “DAY OF ABSENCE” on February 28, 2019 at Bronx Community College.
Written in 1965 at the heights of the African American struggle for justice, DAY OF ABSENCE uses satirical humor to deconstruct the insidious nature of racism in American society.
The production asks us to imagine a Southern town where the inhabitants awake to find that all the Black residents have simply disappeared. The initial jubilation of some is quickly lost when the town leaders recognize that their nannies, house keepers, gardeners, and garbage collectors are among the missing. The production skillfully and hilariously points out what the loss of cheap and oppressed labor means.
