Preview – DUTCHMAN at Amsterdam’s Theaterhuis

Boy meets girl on a New York City subway.

Dutchman presents a stylized encounter between Clay, a young, intellectual middle-class black man and Lula, a seductive white fellow passenger on a New York City subway car. Flirtation and conversation quickly turn to dangerous attraction. The emotionally taut, intellectual verbal fencing between Clay and Lula that follows, spirals irrevocably to the symbolic act of violence that will apparently repeat itself over and over again.

Dutchman will take its audience on a provocative, startling journey. It examines the chronic racism deeply woven into American society and forces its audience to look at ourselves, our society, and how racism has impacted our daily lives. The American play by Amiri Baraka premiered in 1964. It was awarded an Obie award for best American Off-Broadway play that same year.

“By bringing so much of America -its myths, its lore, its hatreds- onstage in ‘Dutchman,’ Baraka changed the theatre forever. Many of us are still trying to figure out how he did it.” – The New Yorker

Dutchman continues until 9th November