Retcon
by Michael Smallwood*
The last reading in our BEARING WITNESS series, Retcon by Michael Smallwood is a new play that examines black rage through the lens of superhero mythology in the modern era.
Featuring Javaron Conyers,
Tonya Smalls-Williams & Sullivan Hamilton*
Panelists include Dr. Patricia Williams Lessane
Moderated by Lori Elizabeth Parquet
* = PURE Core Ensemble
Friday August 14 @ 7:30 pm
All readings are free to the public.
Advanced sign up is required.
This Event has ended.
Death isn’t always the end. Maybe it’s a chance to reset. A recently revived supervillain faces a choice between family or followers she tries to piece herself back together. Pulled from both sides by her brother and a radical zealot, she must decide who she is, or let the world decide for her.
The virtual play reading will be followed by a virtual panel discussion between audience members, experts in various fields, and creatives from PURE Theatre. Spanning more than 200 years, BEARING WITNESS gives audiences an opportunity to think deeply about racial injustice and to come together to consider how to move forward in equity.
Michael Smallwood is a member of the PURE Theatre Core Ensemble, having joined in 2011. His credits include Last Rites, The Agitators, The Royale, Father Comes Home from the Wars, Marie Antoinette, and The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, among many others. He is an award-winning playwright and filmmaker. His film credits include the Emmy-winning CBS series The Inspectors, the Netflix original movie Naked, and Halloween Kills (2020). Michael also hosts the podcast Welcome to Greendale.
PURE Theatre is excited to announce a three-part virtual play reading series, BEARING WITNESS, produced in partnership with the Charleston Arts Festival and Buxton Books. The series will start on July 17th with Denmark: Every Man Has a Story, a new play by Ade Ofunniyin, Ph.D. This will be followed on July 31st with a leap to the 1967 Detroit riots with Last Rites. This play received stellar reviews at its premiere at PURE in August 2019 and was written by PURE Core Ensemble member Randy Neale. The series will conclude on August 14th, jumping over a half-century to the present day for a reading of Retcon, a new play by PURE Core Ensemble member Michael Smallwood that examines black rage through the lens of superhero mythology.
