The Blue Angels over Fair Park. (Photo courtesy of Norman Alston)
Travisville, a play inspired by Jim Schutze’s book The Accommodation: The Politics of Race in an American City, is being performed now at Fair Park.
A longtime East Dallas journalist, Schutze published the book in 1986, and it went out of print soon after.
The book was recently reissued and has gained popularity through the Big D Reads program, which provided free copies to many Dallas residents.
Here’s how Soul Rep Theatre Company describes the play, written in 2018 by William Jackson Harper (known for his role as Chidi Anagonye in NBC’s The Good Place) and directed by Guinea Bennett-Price. It’s set in Texas in the 1960s:
“Through the efforts of an alliance of Black church leaders, a wary peace has been maintained with the city’s white mayor and citizens. But when the mayor partners with a private developer to gentrify the Black neighborhood and uproot its residents, and a movement organizer from Atlanta comes to town, the Minister’s Alliance will need to choose between the non-confrontational status quo and standing up for the interests of their community.”
Travisville performances are now through Dec. 18 at the Margo Jones Theatre at Fair Park. However, all tickets have been sold.
