THE CONDUCTOR

Theater for the New City, New York

As the Anglo-American domination of American culture continues to crumble, panic has set in. Eastern columnists and their West Coast stringers, strike out, having discovered that their Anglo-Centric education is inadequate when analyzing the complex history of North America.

They dismiss the challenges from fresh points of view about this history with buzz words like Woke, Identity, and Political Correctness.   Men who dominate the opinion industry, whose views reach millions, complain about being canceled.

Their coverage of the Recall elections in San Francisco in some of the most respected eastern publications was shrilly. When the usual white male columnists, both left and right, weren’t distorting the facts surrounding the Recall of both the three school board members and the San Francisco District Attorney, they recruited their Anglo Chinese and Anglo Indians as surrogates. In San Francisco, the school board recall was begun by an Anglo Indian.

Ishmael Reed’s The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda exposed the billionaire-sponsored musical Hamilton, which was based upon the lie that Alexander Hamilton was “an ardent abolitionist.” With The Slave Who Loved Caviar, Reed opposed the official line promoted by The Andy Warhol Foundation that Warhol was a benevolent mentor to Jean-Michel Basquiat’s servile mentee and “mascot.”

Now with his newest play, The Conductor, Reed challenges the billionaires’ manipulated use of the Recall to overturn the wishes of the electorate, not only in San Francisco but elsewhere. These billionaires are beyond government, They are warlords who Doxx their opponents with the aid of ignorant, often armed grunts who do their dirty work. They continue to threaten the three recalled school board members and members of their families, especially the women, of course.

Ishmael Reed is part of a tradition that extends to ancient times. The warlords have their bought opinion proxies, and their domestic terrorists; the writers have their pens and words.

For further information, interviews, and photographs:

Please contact Rome Neal at romeneal25@gmail.com or 718-288-8048.

 Cast for The Conductor readings includes Emil Guillermo, Imran Javaid, Tennessee Reed, Laura Robards, Monisha Shiva, Brian Simmons, and Kenya Wilson.

 Ishmael Reed is the author of novels, plays, poetry, and non-fiction. Backstage called him “a modern day Moliere.”  His author’s website is www.ishmaelreed.org.

 Carla Blank directed Reed’s play, The Slave Who Loved Caviar, at Theater for the New City Dec. 2021-Jan. 2022. She co-edited the anthology Bigotry On Broadway with Reed (Baraka Books, 2021).

Rome Neal is a producer, director, actor, and jazz vocalist. He is Artistic Director of the Nuyorican Poets Café.

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