Jeremy O. Harris Withdraws Slave Play From L.A. Run to Protest Lack of Women Playwrights

Tony-nominated playwright Jeremy O. Harris announced plans to pull Slave Play from its West Coast premiere at Los Angeles' Center Theatre Group's Taper Forum. Harris says his reasoning is due to the lack of women playwrights included in the season lineup. The playwright shared a screenshot of an email on Twitter.

On @SlavePlayBway at @CTGLA: pic.twitter.com/qFm5eNbd4j

— Variety Screenwriter To Watch Jeremy O. Harris (@jeremyoharris) October 5, 2021

The email read: "Dear all, I’m emailing to let you know the reason why I haven’t shared much digital enthusiasm about the season. As a playwright who holds dear the principles of both inclusion it was a shock to realize that this season was programmed with only 1 woman across all theatres. As an Angeleno and a lover of theatre I think Los Angeles audiences deserve and equitable showing of the playwrights working in the US right now. I’ve spoken to my team and would like to begin the process of removing slave play from the season at this time. Hopefully in its place some young playwrights I love might be able to join the fold like: Celine Song, Tori Sampson, Aleshea Harris, Claire Kiechel, Antoinette Nwandu, Ming Peiffer, Whitney White, Clare Barron, Majkin Holmquist, Genne Murphy, Aziza Barnes and so many more. I hope this finds you all and I look forward to speaking more."

Center Theatre Group's Artistic Director Michael Ritchie and Managing Director/CEO Meghan Pressman have responded: "In assembling Center Theatre Group’s upcoming Taper and Douglas seasons, we first honored commitments to many shows that were disrupted by the pandemic over the course of the last two years. Some of those commitments include plays by women that have been scheduled for next season due to artist availability but are not yet announced. We understand the frustration, disappointment and even anger in the scarcity of women playwrights in the upcoming season. Although we have announced a lineup featuring voices from many standpoints and identities, we acknowledge that we’ve fallen short of our own expectations and those of our community in regards to gender equity, and for that, we apologize. We can and will do better. We want to reassure our community that we remain intensely focused on our mission of reflecting and serving the many communities of Los Angeles. We have already begun work on 2022/23 seasons that include a commitment to gender equity amongst playwrights for Center Theatre Group produced shows. The opening production already slated for the 2022/23 season at the Mark Taper Forum is written by a woman of color. We made this commitment to equity to other aspects of our current season as well. All four of the directors in the just-announced Douglas season are women or non-binary. In addition, this year’s Writers Workshop cohort is made up solely of women-identifying playwrights, all local to Los Angeles. Of the 16 new plays Center Theatre Group recently commissioned, 11 are from BIPOC writers and 11 are being written by women. We are thankful for our community members who remain supportive of Center Theatre Group—even through our missteps—as we strive to amplify women’s voices and become more equitable, accessible and reflective of all of Los Angeles’ diverse communities. We hope our audiences will continue to join us in that journey. Today we received a notification from playwright Jeremy O. Harris that he would like to start the process of removing Slave Play from this season in the hopes to make room for more women. We respect Jeremy’s opinion and believe in him as an artist. We hope to continue our relationship with him going forward. We are regrouping and will be able to share more in the coming days about the impact on our upcoming season."

A Note from Center Theatre Group Leadership:
In assembling Center Theatre Group’s upcoming Taper and Douglas seasons, we first honored commitments to many shows that were disrupted by the pandemic over the course of the last two years. Some of those commitments include plays–

— Center Theatre Group (@CTGLA) October 6, 2021

As previously announced, the Tony-nominated Slave Play will return to Broadway for a limited run at the August Wilson Theatre beginning on November 23.

In Slave Play, the Old South lives on at the MacGregor Plantation—in the breeze, in the cotton fields...and in the crack of the whip. It’s an antebellum fever-dream, where fear and desire entwine in the looming shadow of the Master’s House. Jim trembles as Kaneisha handles melons in the cottage, Alana perspires in time with the plucking of Phillip’s fiddle in the boudoir, while Dustin cowers at the heel of Gary’s big, black boot in the barn. Nothing is as it seems, and yet everything is as it seems.