‘An Octoroon’ At Actor’s Express Comments On Race In America

Actor’s Express is currently running “An Octoroon”  an irreverent meta-melodrama that The New York Times calls “…this decade’s most eloquent theatrical statement on race in America today.”

To create “An Octoroon,” playwright and MacArthur Fellow, Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins reimagined the highly successful 1859 play “The Octoroon,” which was set on a Louisiana plantation and addressed interracial romance. The result is a provocative, raucous look at racial stereotypes.

Director Donya K. Washington and actor Candy McLellan (Minnie) had a conversation with Lois Reitzes about racial identity, melodrama and the theatre techniques of Bertolt Brecht.