In November of 2011, Ta-Nehisi Coates published an essay in The Atlantic titled “Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War?” In it he wrote that “in my study of African American history, the Civil War was always something of a sideshow,” and went on to say that “in our present time, to express the view of the enslaved … is to compromise the comfortable narrative.” Playwright and actor Dominique Morissea took this essay as inspiration for her new play. The show begins with a racist attack that leads into two narratives—one that unfolds during the Civil War and one during modern times. In the former, Sara, an enslaved Black woman, seeks freedom. In the latter, Sandra, a Black professor at a private university, endures hostility at work and unease at home. The show hops between these timelines and casts the same actors for both time periods. Directed by Nataki Garrett, the artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the play stars stage and screen actors Christiana Clark, Cyndii Johnson, and Erika Rose. —Jensen Davis