What do the words of a dead White poet mean to a group of Black actors? Everything, actually. After all, these are artists forced to spend their days disguised as maids and waiters.
Forty years before the Civil War, the African Grove Theatre Troupe in New York sets about staging a production of Richard III. But when a major (and White) New York company scores a big name star to be featured in their own production of Richard, they are determined to shut down the African company's show at any cost.
Hiding their gifts along with their feelings, until the sun sets and the time comes to discover themselves in Shakespeare's poetry. His writing demanding that everyone find their own way through his words, haters be damned. A backstage story like no other - funny, furious, and uniquely American
