Play encourages uneasy conversations between Black and white women
Amoke Kubat has updated her play Angry Black Woman & Well-Intentioned White Girl. Photo by David Pierini
By David Pierini, Editor
What usually goes unsaid between Black and white women was said out loud one day between local writer and artist Amoke Kubat and drama coach Jennifer Johnson.
The two met to begin work on a writing and drama exercise for Northside kids. When Amoke arrived after a difficult meeting, Johnson asked how she was doing. Kubat blurted, “I’m tired of being the angry Black woman.” Johnson responded, “You mean like the well-intentioned white girl?”
From that greeting, Kubat knew she had the title of a play that needed writing.
Angry Black Woman & Well-Intentioned White Girl, which explores “Minnesota Nice” and the accusations, silences, and misunderstandings that often occur in interracial interactions, debuted in 2016. It played to some 20 audiences across the state for over two years, and colleges and community groups requested its script and educational materials.
Kubat has since updated the play to include references to the police murder of George Floyd, a resurgent white supremacy movement, and the identity politics of the last decade. The new script will also explore toxic male influences, common ground that can be found between Black and white women, Kubat said.
The two will do a first reading of the revised script on Saturday, Oct. 19, at 1 p.m. at the Capri Theater.
The play, a conversation between Kubat and a repentant and often whiny character played by Johnson, brings laughter and discomfort. Audience members can expect to enjoy sharp and, at times, delightfully profane dialogue and feel uncomfortable with the direct truths discovered between the two characters. Johnson played two different characters in the first script and will take a third role in the updated play.
Amoke Kubat and Jennifer Johnson during a performance in 2016. Screen shot from Vimeo
When the play ends after an hour and 15 minutes, the audience is encouraged to stay to participate in group discussions to explore some of the false and dehumanizing narratives between people of different races and backgrounds in American society.
“I think there is a real urgency for women to gather together and figure this stuff out,” Kubat said. “It’s having those conversations and putting things on people’s minds or giving them permission to say it. I hear people say they didn’t have the language for these things I was talking about, and (the play) gave them permission to say things they hadn’t been able to express.”
Kubat found rich fodder in her frustrations as a teacher in Minneapolis Public Schools. The district is predominantly students of color taught by a predominantly white teaching staff that often lacked cultural competence.
She saw a tendency by white teachers to consider certain behaviors in Black students as aggressive and in need of discipline or placement in special education. Often, they turned to Kubat, a Black woman, to solve the “problem.”
Her directness, too, could be mistaken by her white colleagues for aggression - and anger.
“I said things people didn’t like,” Kubat said. “Minnesotans have a hard time with my mouth, and it’s not like I’m crazy. It’s just I was direct. I’m used to being direct with my family. That’s how I grew up. Say what you mean, mean what you say.”
Johnson, a Wisconsin resident whose work often brought her to North Minneapolis, said she had felt the tension with Black colleagues and was progressing in understanding how her upbringing in southwest Minnesota created blind spots.
Her work with Kubat allowed her to take an even deeper dive into her Irish ancestry and how assimulating to America included taking part in a country that marginalized Black and Brown people.
During the process of writing the script, “Amoke was really generous with me as a well-intentioned white person, acknowledging what I was learning but also holding me accountable for the work I was doing,” Johnson said. The play is “not meant to make things shiny and happy. It’s more of an invitation to have these discussions.
“There’s a lot of defensiveness because (white) people are looking at racism as these egregious actions that happened in the past that we no longer do. You may not actively try to go out and harm people, but we’re still acting from the systems of colonialism and genocide without real understanding of that. It’s not necessarily our fault, but it is our responsibility.”
Their first version of the play can be seen on Vimeo for $19.99. Kubat has introduced more themes and several revisions referencing current events.
Spoiler alert: The group discussions following the performance could lead to new perspectives and continued reflection.