Director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg reflects on her history with Alice Childress's work and bringing Trouble in Mind to the Globe.
Interview by Danielle Mage Amato
You’ve directed Trouble in Mind twice now. What drew you to the play as a director the first time, and what made you want to return to it?
The first time I directed Trouble in Mind, I was at MOXIE Theatre. I was looking for a classic that fit our mission—diverse, female playwrights whose works are relevant today. I did a lot of research on Childress, her life and her work, and learning more about her was so thrilling. Now, post-pandemic, post–George Floyd, post–We See You White American Theatre, the play feels more relevant than ever. One question it asks is: how much power does a Black female voice have in a field like the theatre?
I’m a person who’s had a lot of opportunities, but I’m having “trouble in mind” about the fact that a lot of Black women don’t feel empowered in our field. Using my voice to lift other voices is what I’m most interested in right now.
What about the play feels most relevant to you at this moment?
In this country we talk about “the dignity of work,” but oftentimes we ask workers to sacrifice dignity in order to work. Even in the theatre. Even now. Black artists have a passion to work in this field—and a financial necessity to take jobs.
But what roles are they being offered? What plays are getting programmed?
With this production, I’m especially interested in the question: who gets to be the authority on a story about you? For a long time, we all just accepted that the director or the producer or the playwright was the ultimate authority on how the play should go, even if they didn’t belong to the culture that they were talking about. But representation without agency—or real power—stifles progress and perpetuates stereotypes. It’s not lost on me that a lot of Black female playwrights throughout our history became writers out of frustration about the roles being offered to them as performers.
Coming back to the play for the second time, what new ideas are you bringing to it?
Reading an essay by Mark Perry (“Who’s Afraid of Alice Childress?”), I came across a quote from Douglas Jones that really sparked my imagination when it came to this production. On the subject of Black performance, Douglas said: “Since performance sustained slavery and freedom, it could not be trusted nor neglected.” I really see those two things at work in the play, with all the levels of performance that are happening: there’s the performance the actors are rehearsing, there’s the performance the Black characters do for the director, there’s the way they perform for each other, and then there’s the stripping away of all that performance to get to deeper truths.
What would you say Alice Childress’s greatest strengths are as a dramatist?
Her honesty. The love and detail with which she writes each character.
I tend to think theatre at its best is subversive. This play certainly is. It explodes into its truths. We think we’re watching a comedy, and we are, but we also witness a quiet revolution. The play raises real questions, but in Childress’s work in general, she writes about ordinary people and treats their lives as worthy of theatre.
When you were putting together the design team for the show, what were you looking for?
I’ve been thinking a lot about pipeline questions: how do we give opportunity to a new group of people? And specifically, how do I help give voice to Black women in theatre? So what I was mostly looking for were designers of color who could take ownership of the story. Because this is really a story about what it’s like to be Black encountering an all-White, all-male power structure. I ended up with a diversity of designers from different backgrounds—some with a lot of television work, some with all theatre experience—but the play speaks strongly to all of them, and they are all excited about doing this play right now.
How about the cast? What skills do you think are required in actors to make this play come to life?
They have to have really strong language skills. And they have to be funny. I’m not funny myself, but I do have a sense of humor, so I can appreciate that skill in others. [laughs] And even though Trouble in Mind has a clear protagonist and antagonist, it’s still an ensemble piece. Which means I was looking not just for good actors but for good people, because the play requires a lot of hard conversations. And I want the environment for the whole team to be safe, to be a place where they can do their best work. Where we can have hard conversations but with grace.
What do you hope audiences come away with after watching the play?
The play is set in 1957, and the political events of that time bubble over into the play. In 2022 we have to take this opportunity to ask: how far have we come? We’re still having the same conversations, about race, about gender. We’re still having them. Even though we look back and say, “We’ve come so far”—we haven’t. Not far enough.
Alice Childress once said: “People aren’t ahead of their time, they are choked during their time.”
It’s lonely to be Wiletta, to be the person who is brave enough to say the truth. That person often gets ostracized, not only by their adversary, but also by the people who should support them. They get labeled as “difficult” or as someone who “makes trouble.” So, I hope the audience leaves feeling empowered to be the one to take that step, or at the very least listen to and rally around the people who are brave enough to tell the truth. Like Alice Childress.
Photo: Director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg with cast during the first rehearsal table read. Photo by Mike Hausberg.
