Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s racially-charged ‘Pass Over’ will be the first play to open on Broadway post-COVID-19 shutdown
The first show to open on The Great White Way after the COVID-19 shutdown will be a racially-charged mash-up of “Waiting for Godot” and the Exodus story.
The Lincoln Center Theater production of Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s play “Pass Over” will begin performances Aug. 4 at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre. with opening night scheduled for Sept. 12.
Co-produced by theatrical marketing wiz Matt Ross and Tony Award-nominated actor Blair Underwood, the provocative play will be directed by Obie Award winner Danya Taymor, and features the full original cast from the Lincoln Center Theater production: Tony Award nominee Jon Michael Hill, Jeff Award nominee Namir Smallwood — making his Broadway debut — and Tony Award winner Gabriel Ebert.
“Pass Over” exposes the unquestionable human spirit of young Black men who dream about a promised land they’ve yet to find. With bold, raw and daring dialogue, Nwandu’s eloquent work was written partly as a response to the shooting of Trayvon Martin and serves as a searing reminder of injustices at the hands of the police on besieged Black American masculinity.
Taking place on a city street corner, the two main characters — Moses and Kitch — hang around, talking smack, pass the time, and hope that maybe today will be different one. As they dream of their promised land, a stranger wander into their space and disrupts their plans.
“Pass Over “will also mark the Broadway debuts of both Nwandu and Taymor.
Taymor previously helmed Will Arberry’s “Heroes of the Fourth Turning” and Jeremy O. Harris’ “Daddy” off-Broadway.
The moving and masterful “Pass Over” propelled Spike Lee to film an earlier production of the show when it played to sold-out audiences at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre in 2017.
The filmed adaptation, starring Hill, Julian Parker and Ryan Hallahan, is currently available on Amazon Prime.
