Slave Play

Slave Play is a three-act play by Jeremy O. Harris about race, sex, power relations, trauma, and interracial relationships. It follows three interracial couples undergoing "Antebellum Sexual Performance Therapy" because the black partners no longer feel sexual attraction to their white partners. The title refers both to the history of slavery in the United States and to sexual slavery role-play. Harris originally wrote the play in his first year at the Yale School of Drama, and it debuted on a major stage on November 19, 2018, in an Off-Broadway New York Theatre Workshop staging directed by Robert O'Hara. It opened on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre on October 6, 2019. In 2019, Slave Play was nominated for Best Play in the Lucille Lortel Awards, and Claire Warden won an Outstanding Fight Choreography Drama Desk Award for her work in the play. The play has been the center of controversy due to its themes and content. At the 74th Tony Awards, Slave Play received 12 nominations, breaking the record set by the 2018 revival of Angels in America for most nominations for a non-musical play, though it did not receive any awards. Characters Kaneisha – A 28-year-old black woman who is in a relationship with Jim. She plays as a slave in the first act and she has anhedonia. She speaks in a natural Southern dialect throughout. Jim – A 35-year-old wealthy white man who is in a relationship with Kaneisha. He plays a slave overseer in the first act, and has a British accent in the following acts. Phillip – A 30-year-old mixed-race man who is in a relationship with Alana. He plays a mulatto servant in the first act and he has anhedonia. Alana – A 36-year-old white woman who is in a relationship with Phillip. She plays a mistress in the first act. Dustin – A 28-year-old gay white man who is in a relationship with Gary. He is "a white man but the lowest type of white—dingy, and off-white." He plays as an indentured servant in the first act. Gary – A 27-year-old gay black man who is in a relationship with Dustin. He plays a black overseer in the first act and he has anhedonia. Teá – A 26-year-old mixed-race woman who is in a relationship with Patricia. She studies black feminism and queer theory, and is holding a study in Racialized Inhibiting Disorder in interracial couples with Patricia. Patricia – A 30-year-old light-skinned brown woman who is in a relationship with Teá.