Reviews of the play call it a coming-of-age story, but it’s too brief a blip in time to really be a bildungsroman. The play is fast-paced, covering maybe a year in a college prep boarding school for African American boys. The dialogue and scenes are threaded through with spirituals, making this a potentially challenging text to teach. Nevertheless, I’m thrilled to be teaching this in my Queer Lit course next term.
