On the For Real Side: Why We Cling to Racism and All That Other Divisive Stuff

7:00 PM - 8:30 PM Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Location:
Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St., East Cambridge

"On the For Real Side: Why We Cling to Racism and All That Other Divisive Stuff" is a free, public theater performance and facilitated community dialogue presented by Cambridge's Multicultural Arts Center in partnership with Cambridge Arts and the City of Cambridge.

For some, who believe we have made significant progress in dealing with racism, things are looking better. However, for many others who believe that we still have a way to go, we need to address the ways in which we consciously and unconsciously reinforce thinking patterns and behaviors that sets us all back. 

Janis A. Pryor adapts for the stage a portion of her newest novel, "Dinner With Trixie, the south settles an old score with the north," which dissects the hypocrisy of the North regarding racism. Two very wealthy white families, the Grants from the South and the Capwells from the Sorth settle an old score that has tied their families together for 200 years. In the early 1800s, the Capwells discovered, as a result of doing business together, that the Southern patriarch, Alistair Grant, had two children with his housekeeper, a slave named Kate, after the death of his first wife. The Capwells have been blackmailing the Grants right up to current times until the new CEO of Grant Family Companies, Charlotte Alison Grant, a.k.a Trixie, a direct descendant of Alistair Grant, discovers and stops annual payments of a million dollars to Capwell Enterprises, now run by Jeanette Capwell Davidson. The cast is Olivia D’Ambrosio as Trixie, Rachel Bailit as Jeanette, and Paul Richard Yarborough as Tom. Dawn M. Simmons will direct. 

In the third of four Arts & Community Dialogues at the Multicultural Arts Center, presented in partnership with City of Cambridge and Cambridge Arts. Each uses the arts as a catalyst for a facilitated dialogue. The dialogue that will follow the play will be led by Pryor, an International Television & Film Award winner for Cultural Programming, Iris Award Winner for Talk Show programming and former producer and host of the syndicated radio show, "Commonwealth Journal," and will include the cast and creative team.

The Arts & Community Dialogue series concludes with "Chasing The American Dream: Immigration Stories" on June 13 at 7 p.m. All the events are free and open to the public, and RSVPs can be made at www.multiculturalartscenter.org.