BLUEPRINTS TO FREEDOM IBD

Sinopse

'In Michael Benjamin WashingtonâÇÖs absorbing new play about an all-but-forgotten civil rights leader, one of the biggest moments in the fight for racial equality comes off despite-or perhaps because of-a crisis of faith.ááFaith, in fact, becomes a key motif coursing through BLUEPRINTS TO FREEDOM: An Ode to Bayard Rustin.ááThereâÇÖs the faith that other African-American activists place in Rustin to organize the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, despite plenty of agonized mutual history.ááThereâÇÖs the broader faith in the idea that such an action can make a difference, with discrimination and segregation still pervasive in America 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation.ááAnd then thereâÇÖs RustinâÇÖs own deep Christian faith, shattered (by his count) 669 days before the play begins, when he was forced to quit the Southern Christian Leadership Council over worries about publicity concerning his private life.ááRustin, a pillar of the civil-rights movement who died in 1987, was a gay man (more or less openly so) in a time when that was difficult even for someone not already facing bigotry. That aspect of his identity helps explain why his name has faded from our nationâÇÖs roll call of those who led the movement in the 1960s.ááThe play...is an often lyrical, dialogue-rich piece of work whose political sweep and sense of building momentum is reminiscent of ALL THE WAY, Robert SchenkkanâÇÖs 2014 Tony Award-winner about President JohnsonâÇÖs push to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964....áá[There is] humor, too. When RustinâÇÖs bright young assistant, Miriam Caldwell, asks Rustin and his mentor, A Philip Randolph, why they speak so formally, Randolph replies that itâÇÖs a nod of respect to their ancestors. RustinâÇÖs response: âÇÖI do it to confuse white peopleâÇÖ. (After a pause, he adds: âÇÖI speak this way aloud because I speak this way to GodâÇÖ.)ááDespite the triumphant notes around the march, which drew a quarter-million people, thereâÇÖs a storm yet to come in BLUEPRINTS. ThereâÇÖs always another storm to come, as the âÇÖBlack Lives MatterâÇÖ movement can attest today.ááBLUEPRINTS bears witness that history matters, too.'James Hebert, The San Diego Union-Tribune