A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Cleansed

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  4w, 4m

"Perhaps your average night at the theater doesn't include screams of 'Nigger Monkey's' and 'Black skinned beasts!' but Thomas Bradshaw's does. The playwright-provocateur presents a wickedly shocking double bull that unapologetically flaunts racial c…"

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4w, 4m

Details

Summary
A new play about a black doctor, his white wife, and the challenges their mixed-race daughter faces growing up in a white-bread Indiana town. From being taunted by Skinheads to becoming a Skinhead, Cleansed explores the underbelly of racial identification in America. Sometimes the hate you have for yourself overwhelms anything anybody else could feel for you.

Published with Strom Thurmond is Not a Racist.

  • Cautions
    • Intense Adult Themes
    • Strong Language

Media

"Perhaps your average night at the theater doesn't include screams of 'Nigger Monkey's' and 'Black skinned beasts!' but Thomas Bradshaw's does. The playwright-provocateur presents a wickedly shocking double bull that unapologetically flaunts racial conflict...Bradshaw doesn't deliver a normal night out, but his outrages are worth every second of discomfort." - Time Out New York

"Tom Bradshaw's most important contribution to society is snatching narrative and its elements back from the clutches of the ordinary" - Richard Maxwell, Playwright and Director

"Bradshaw has a positive genius for explosive imagery, putting biracial Lauraul in a Klan costume and penning a demonic parody of Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech for Strom Thurmond...Bradshaw has a deep dramatic and linguistic intelligence." - Village Voice

"These uncomfortably intense plays focus on racism in our society, from the Dixiecrats of the south to the confused generation of today... The intensity that Bradshaw intended came through tenfold." — New York Cool

"Thomas Bradshaw is sometimes billed as a playwright/provocateur. In actuality, he is a playwright/academic... The provocateur comes from the fact that he is a black author who often holds a blinding spotlight on the issues of race and black identity in this country. His work is characterized by an unflinching concentration on the fundamental effects of racism on black self worth...Strom Thurmond Is Not A Racist/Cleansed is a provocative, gripping, and unsettling evening." - New York City Onstage

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: $120 per performance

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Authors

Thomas Bradshaw

Thomas Bradshaw’s plays have been produced at regional theaters, in NYC as as well as in Europe. In 2012, the Flea Theater successfully produced his play Job and in 2011, his play Burning ran to rave reviews at the New Group/NYC and the Goodman Theater produced his play Mary, ...

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