The Great Privation (How to flip ten cents into a dollar)
While there are plenty of laughs in "The Great Privation," we never lose sight of the fact the subject matter has roots in the history of medical exploitation. Previous mainstream pieces have appeared in recent years: Rebecca Skloot’s #1 New York Times bestseller, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," about a black woman whose cells were taken without her consent and unbeknownst to her contributed to numerous medical breakthroughs, and "Behind The Sheet," Charly Evon Simpson’s 2019 play presented by Ensemble Studio Theatre, loosely based on the story of J. Marion Simms, a gynecology pioneer whose progress (and success) was built on the suffering of enslaved women. [more]