May 27, 2025 - June 22, 2025
Join six Black singles aboard the S.S. Chiaroscuro for a chocolate singles cruise to…. nowhere! Guided by the wise and mischievous Paul Paul Legba, this “love boat” ultimately explodes into a dark comedy. Aboard, everyone wrestles with their own pursuit of love, desire, and need to be seen. Written by Black Arts Movement writer Aishah Rahman, the play is named after an Italian artistic term referring to a stark contrast between dark and light. A play crafted in a world struggling to battle isolation, we invite you to join us on the journey to finding love.
In association with
The Flea
Aishah Rahman
Playwright
Aishah Rahman was a pioneering playwright, author, and professor. A graduate of Howard University and Goddard College, Rahman was active in the 1960’s Black Arts Movement. She described her writing as adhering to a “jazz aesthetic,” and was the author of numerous plays, including dramas such as “Unfinished Women Cry In No Man’s Land While a Bird Dies in Gilded Cage,” “The Mojo And The Sayso,” and musicals such as Lady Day A Musical Tragedy and The Tale of Madame Zora. Her plays were produced at theaters and universities across the United States including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Public Theater and The Ensemble Studio Theater. Rahman was also a professor of Literary Arts at Brown University, where she mentored many students. She also served as director of playwriting at the New Federal Theater in New York. Among her numerous fellowships, grants and awards are a special citation from the Rockefeller Foundation of the Arts for dedication to playwriting in the American Theater. Rahman released her memoir, Chewed Water in 2001 about her coming of age in Harlem. In its review, The New York Times Book Review wrote that Rahman “elegantly captures mid-20th-century Harlem in all its dwindling glory” and writes as if she is telling “ a familiar American coming-of-age story for the very first time.”
abigail jean-baptiste
Director
abigail jean-baptiste is a theater maker born & based in New York City with roots in Haiti and the American South. guided by questions around blackness, femininity, and kinship, abigail’s work uses fragmented language, repeatable gestures, and found objects in a search to build nonsensical ways of being.
previously: 2023-24 BOLD Resident Director (Northern Stage), FY2023 NYSCA Grantee (Playwrights Horizons), Cycle 9 Audrey Resident (New Georges), 2023 JACK Radical Acts Artist, I AM SOUL Directing Residency (National Black Theater), 2021 Project Number One Artist (Soho Rep.), 2021 Bushwick Starr Reading Series Playwright, Roundabout Directors Group Cohort 2, and 2018 Lilly Award Winner.
upcoming: KING JAMES by Rajiv Joseph (Northern Stage) and TI-JEAN AND HIS BROTHERS by Derek Walcott (Princeton University), CHIAROSCURO by Aishah Rahman (NBT, The Flea). www.abigailjeanbaptiste.org @abigailrosejb
CAST
Sidney DuPont
Sidney DuPont is a 2022 Tony Award nominee and Chita Rivera Award nominee, originating the role of Washington Henry in Paradise Square at the Barrymore Theater. He made his Broadway debut in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and continued with the 1st National Tour and Australian Company. National Tours: Memphis: the Musical and A Chorus Line. Regional: Hippest Trip: Soul Train Musical (A.C.T), Paradise Square at Berkeley Repertory Theatre (TBA nomination), Man of La Mancha (The Shakespeare Theater), In the Heights (The Geva Theater), and Gypsy (NCT). Television/Commercial: FBI: Most Wanted (CBS) & Cartier. @sidneydupont
Paige Gilbert
Paige Gilbert is an actor, spiritualist, and healer through many forms. Broadway: The Skin of Our Teeth(Lincoln Center) The Rose Tattoo (Roundabout) Off Broadway:The Welkin (Atlantic) A Raisin in the Sun (Public Theater) Demons (Bushwick Starr) BLKSand School Girls; or The African Mean Girls Play (MCC). TV/Film: Netflix series Russian Doll, HBO’s The Deuce. Mindy Kaling’s Late Night. Check out Sage The House Down podcast on Audible for some healing conversations. IG: @glitteringgold
Ebony Marshall-Oliver
Ebony Marshall-Oliver: NBT debut! Ebony is an actor, singer, storyteller. Her Broadway credits include Ain't No Mo' (Passenger 4), Chicken & Biscuits (Beverly); Off Broadway- Public Theater (Merry Wives, Ain't No Mo), Waterwell (7 Minutes), Clubbed Thumb (Bodies They Ritual); Select Regional-Huntington Theatre/Alliance Theater (Fat Ham), Dallas Theater Center (Dreamgirls), Theatre3Dallas (Memphis), Ever Blue Arts (Sister Act), Jubilee Theatre (Color Purple); She can be seen as Mildred on The Ms. Pat Show on BET+. Other Film/TV credits: Regarding Us (AppleTV), Evil (Paramount+) AMDA-NY Alum. @ebonym_o
Abenaa Quïïn
Abenaa Quïïn (La Honda Deja Vue) Abenaa is a multifaceted actress, singer-songwriter, and producer hailing from New Jersey. On stage, Abenaa originated the role of Adenikeh in Nollywood Dreams at MCC Theater, earning a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Performer in a Play. She portrayed Anne Page in the Public Theater’s Merry Wives at the Delacorte for Shakespeare in the Park, filmed for PBS’ Great Performances. Her work as Nana in School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play has been seen Off-Broadway and regionally, contributing to a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. Regional credits include Goddess (Berkeley Rep), Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (ZACH Theatre), Ragtime on Ellis, Avenue Q, Ain’t Misbehavin, Hairspray, and Disney Cruise Line. TV: “Orange is the New Black”,“Daredevil”(Netflix); “The Other Two”(Comedy Central/Max); “FBI”(CBS); “Theater Close-Up”,“Great Performances”(PBS); “#Stressed”(BronxNet); “Reopening Night”(HBO/Max); “Poker Face”(Peacock). Thank you to NBT, The Flea, my Stewart Talent team, and Rob Kolker. TGBTG. Isaiah 40:31. IG/TT: @abenaadryl
Gayle Samuels
Gayle Samuels recently appeared on Broadway in Ohio State Murders. She received a Best Supporting Actress Award for the indie film American Wisper and a Best Actress nomination from the Connecticut Critics Circle for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. Other Broadway credits include Children of a Lesser God, Sunset Boulevard, Grind, Dancin’ and she just returned from Australia playing Lena Younger in A Raisin in the Sun at The Sydney Theatre Company. Her Off- Broadway credits include Demons, Sistas, MsTrial, Little Shop of Horrors and as Josephine Baker in The Dark Star from Harlem. Gayle has toured the world with Harry Belafonte as a featured vocalist and was thrilled to work alongside Peter Dinklage in Goodspeed’s Cyrano originating the role of the Chaperone. Regionally, she won rave reviews for her portrayal of Rose in Fences and Louise in Seven Guitars. Gayle’s television and film credits include Bull, The Equalizer, Girls5Eva, Queens, The Flight Attendant, Blue Bloods, Madam Secretary, The Americans, Black Nativity and Bound. @gayle.samuels
TL Thompson
TL was a series regular on the 4400 reboot and most recently co starred in the short Long Pork by Iris Dukatt and Holding Back The Tide featured at NYC Doc Fest. TL is the narrator in the first and second season of Unlicensed by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cramer, Ponyboy by Eliot Duncan (Audible), and Are You Listening - an animated series aimed at helping teens navigate conflict. Broadway: Straight White Men. Off Broadway: Orlando (Signature) Is This A Room? (Vineyard and International Tour); Lessons in Survival (Vineyard); Nervous System (BAM). Webseries: THESE/THEMS (OutFest/Youtube); Dinette Season 2 (NewFest). Short Films: Wolf Tone, Flu$h,Friday Afternoon (NYC Independent Film Festival), Miles Away (Chronic Insanity Edinburgh Fringe).Audiobooks: Thrust, Four Hundred Souls, Filthy Animals, This Book Is Not for You, Unpopular Vote. TLThompsonactor.com. @tlthompsonofficial
Lance Coadie Williams
Lance made his New York theater debut and won an Obie Award for his performance in the critically acclaimed production of Robert O'Hara's BOOTY CANDY at Playwrights Horizon. Following a roaringly hilarious appearance opposite Patti Lupone in SHOWS FOR DAYS and WAR at Lincoln Center, he appeared on Broadway in the Tony Nominated, Pulitzer Prize winning play, SWEAT and in the Tony Nominated revival of KISS ME KATE at Roundabout Theatre. He starred as numerous characters in BLACK ODYSSEY at Classic Stage Company and as Stage manager in OUR TOWN at Baltimore Center Stage both directed by Stevie Walker Webb. His most recent performance was in FAT HAM at The Old Globe and as the Robust role "" Dax"" in the world premier of THE REFUGE PLAYS at The Roundabout Theatre. His regional theatre credits include The Studio Theatre, The Wilma Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Ford Theatre, Everyman Theatre, The Berkshire Theatre Festival, The Shakespeare Theatre and The Baltimore Shakespeare Festival.Lance had a recurring role in HBO’s THE WIRE and has guest starred in numerous episodics including HIGH MAINTENANCE, ELEMENTARY and THE GOOD FIGHT. He received his BFA at Purchase College Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film and he is a graduate of The Baltimore School for the Arts. He is a true powerhouse actor with incredible versatility to transform and breathe life into a range of different characters.
Creative Team
Jungah Han
SCENIC DESIGNERReid Graham
SCENIC ASSISTANTBailey Trierweiler
SOUND DESIGNERBryn Scharenberg
SOUND ASSISTANTAzalea Fairley
COSTUME DESIGNNicole Montgomery
COSTUME ASSISTANTJuliana Suaide
PROPS DESIGNERAlfreda "Fre" Howard
HAIR AND MAKEUP DESIGNNyla Nolasco
HAIR AND MAKEUP DESIGN ASSISTANTNissy Aya
DRAMATURGEOgemdi Ude
MOVEMENT COORDINATORSamantha Estrella
ASSOCIATE DIRECTORVictoria Whooper
PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGERGenevieve Ortiz
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGERErica A. Hart, CSA
CASTINGPartners
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