Trouble in Mind

A talented and experienced Black actress has finally landed a leading role in Chaos in Belleville, an anti-lynching play headed for Broadway after years of playing smaller, stereotypical parts.

Written by a white playwright, the play may not be as progressive as she hoped, yet it promises commercial success—raising difficult questions about compromise, representation, and survival in the theatre industry.

As a multigenerational cast of Black actors rehearse under the leadership of a white director and stage manager, artistic traditions and racial politics collide, resulting in a work that is both sharply funny and deeply revealing about power, authorship, and the cost of “making it” on the American stage.