Harrison David Rivers reflects that his play, This Bitter Earth, contrasts the different perspectives of political engagement and personal survival within Black identities.
We have a counterfeit democracy, where big money pulls the strings," the chorus shouts in the production's overheated conclusion. "Billionaires will soon be trillionaires, while blaming the poor for all the things.
It was the early early nineties, when I first started the theater and I needed to get a costume, and I was told to go down to this club. I was actually walking down Third Avenue and there was a guy walking by, and I saw that he was wearing long fingernails and rings and big starry glasses, but he was in sweats. And I thought, 'that's such a weird look, but down here, who knows?'.
