About us > Past productions > 2006/07 > Blue Door
a play with original songs
by tanya barfield
directed by delroy lindo
main season | thrust stage
april 6–may 20, 2007
Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission
the show
When he refuses to attend the Million Man March, an African-American professor finds his personal and professional lives thrown into turmoil. Unable to sleep in the bed abandoned by his wife, Lewis is visited by his ancestors—men who fought to be free, to vote, to obtain justice. Two exceptional actors embody three generations in this powerful new play from a promising young writer. Blue Door is a searing examination of family and identity that will resonate with anyone who has ever struggled to live with—or escape—the past.
the artists
Oakland’s own Delroy Lindo came to prominence with
Broadway performances in Master Harold and the Boys and Joe
Turner’s Come and Gone. He reinforced his reputation with major
roles in films such as The Cider House Rules, Get Shorty and Malcolm
X. Now Lindo turns his hand to directing on Berkeley Rep’s intimate
Thrust Stage.
Tanya Barfield studied in the exclusive playwriting program
at Juilliard under Christopher Durang and Marsha Norman. She won the Helen
Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, and Ms. Magazine recently
named her “One of the 21 Young Women to Watch in the 21st Century.”
Although her work has been seen at the legendary Humana Festival, the Guthrie
Theater Lab and London’s Royal Court Theatre, this is her first script
to receive a major production.
