Black Girl Ugly

For the past three years at, in a tiny little black box in the East Village called Wow Café Theatre, Ashley Brockington has presented, Black Girl Ugly (BGU), a performance piece that digs deep into the psych of the little Black Girl. Each year three different actresses investigate how their girlhood experiences have impacted their adult lives as Black Women in the United States. The result is an honest telling of the World of Black Folk. Sometimes hilarious. Sometimes tragic.

This year marks the fourth installment of BGU and features Beatrice Anderson, Sokhna Heathyre Mabin, and Ginger Spencer. The actresses are equal collaborators in the creative process.

Theatreonline.com reflects upon 2010’s BGU as a show that “could have become an easy performance piece, re-affirming the inherent beauty in Black women by resorting to bumper sticker-isms and ‘Come to Jesus’ softheaded resolutions. But thanks to the intelligence, vision and humor of the performers, the play rolls along with jokes that counterpunch against the bleakness, and stories that shed new light on old problems.”