In an instant, he’s mad, shy, tickled or piercingly awkward. The performer, who was last on Broadway a decade ago in the shattering Kander and Ebb musical “The Scottsboro Boys,” jumps from emotional extreme to emotional extreme like a kid stomping in puddles. McClendon is an especially fascinating actor to watch. The character stocks fancy grocery store aisles to help support his brother, and all day he’s forced to act chipper for whiny customers who can’t find the kombucha. Left to right: Tristan “Mack” Wilds, Dyllón Burnside, Forrest McClendon and Da’Vinchi in “Thoughts of a Colored Man.” Julieta CervantesĪs Depression, McClendon hits home the hardest. “Why is struggle synonymous with being black?” he asks. Happiness just moved to a fabulous high-rise apartment with his boyfriend and feels ostracized from his community because he’s gay and makes good money.

Scott also makes the point that not every person’s life experience in this nabe is the same. Find me a 35-year-old who can’t relate to debt and purposelessness. The 20-year-old is obsessed with no-strings sex, while the lost man in his mid-30s finds life increasingly hard to bear as bills pile up.Īnd that’s what’s most successful about Scott’s writing - his ability to be both street-corner specific and universal at the same time. The men’s names in the script are Passion (Luke James), Love (Dyllón Burnside), Lust (Da’Vinchi), Happiness (Bryan Terrell Clark), Anger (Tristan “Mack” Wilds), Depression (Forrest McClendon) and Wisdom (Esau Pritchett) - don’t worry, they don’t call each other that - and their monickers pair with their ages.

With its contentious BK setting and poetic language, “Thoughts” can come across as a Spike Lee joint that has no affiliation to Spike Lee.

Thoughts of a colored man nyc