The Trial of One Short-Sighted Black Woman vs. Mammy Louise and Safreeta Mae, ETA Creative Arts Foundation.
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Marcia L. Leslie’s political play about racial stereotypes and their history, given the form of a passionate if somewhat predictable courtroom drama, speaks to a neglected audience: black women. A struggling black businesswoman is suing the all-giving, malleable Mammy Louise and her sex-kitten daughter Safreeta Mae because their stereotypes hobble her progress. The audience, cast as the jury though it never gets to render a verdict, learns the personal and collective histories masked by the racist stereotypes, and the “short-sighted black woman” comes to understand that the African-American legacy of surviving captivity and brutality can be a strength.
