Yellowman and My Red Hand, My Black Hand

These two raucously acclaimed new plays by Dael Orlandersmith, whomThe New York Timeshas called "an otherworldly messenger, perhaps the sorcerer's apprentice, or a heaven-sent angel with the devil in her," confirm her reputation as one of the truly unique voices in contemporary American drama. InYellowman, a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, Alma and Eugene have known each other since they were young children. As their friendship blossoms into love, Alma struggles to free herself from her mother's poverty and alcoholism, while Eugene must contend with the legacy of being "yellow"lighter-skinned than his brutal and unforgiving father. InMy Red Hand, My Black Hand, a young woman explores her heritage as the child of a blues-loving Native American man and a black sharecropper's daughter from Virginia. Alternately joyous and harrowing, both plays are powerful examinations of the racial tensions that fracture communities and individual lives.

Dael Orlandersmith presented her first play, <i>Liar, Liar</i>, in New York in 1994, and since then has written several others, including <i>Beauty's Daughter</i>, which appeared at the American Place Theatre and won a Obie Award in 1995; <i>Monster</i>, which was presented to critical acclaim at the New York Theatre Workshop in 1996; and <i>The Gimmick</i>, which she performed at the New York Theatre Workshop in 1999. She was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in Drama for <b>Yellowman</b> and the 1999 Susan Smith Blackburn Award and is the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and the Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights.