A disquisition on the cultural significance of new Air Jordans, as debated, with the unfailing feel of genuine conversation, as Anger, Love, Depression and Lust wait in line for the latest release, each man offering a reason for his purchase, not one of them unaware of the implications and nuances of these objects of commerce and beauty.He advises them, and us, “You could be talking to a genius. Depression’s address to the audience, as he stocks the grocery shelves and muses that the store’s aisles “are fields of cotton,” displays an inner life that his customers will never comprehend.To select other passages and monologues here seems both random and unfair, but since Thoughts doesn’t so much contain a narrative plot as impressionist moments, here is just a sample of what you can expect: In the shoe line: Tristan Mack Wilds, Dyllón Burnside, Forrest McClendon, Da’Vinchi Julieta Cervantes Later, when this newcomer arrives for the first time at the barbershop, his quandary – to come out, or not to come out – is illustrated with such panache in a split second of pure comic inspiration that the audience at the reviewed performance broke into applause and laughter that all but stopped the scene. Happiness, for example, begins his day with a jog, taking in the sights of his new neighborhood – he’s originally from the South, by way of Manhattan – and in doing so all but demands us to see these old streets through his eyes. In one vignette after another, presented as a day in the life of this Brooklyn neighborhood, the characters – beautifully portrayed by one of the best ensembles on a New York stage today – come to life so vividly and with such authenticity that we’re continually caught off guard by the unexpected.

Anger (Tristan Mack Wilds), a once-promising basketball player now devoted to coaching student athletes who have all the opportunities he’ll never regain.Depression (Forrest McClendon), a stifled intellectual who gave up a scholarship at MIT to take care of his ailing mother, and who now works stocking shelves at a Whole Foods.Passion (Luke James), a young teacher who delights in sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm for life with his “126 kids”.Wisdom (Esau Pritchett), owner of the barbershop and veteran of the Black power movements of the ’60s and ’70s, a mentor and guide who upends expectations.Happiness (Bryan Terrell Clark), a bougie gay man just recently moved in, taking a condo with his lover in the fancy new high-rise that’s not entirely welcome in the neighborhood.Love (Dyllón Burnside) and Lust (Da’Vinchi), boyhood friends, one given to poetry, the other to touch, and each devoted to the other through good times and bad.Presenting themselves singly and in a variety of groupings – the latter most joyously arriving in a scene set at the neighborhood barbershop – are: A character known as Lust, for example, isn’t merely the personification of sexual libido, a comic, leering predator, but a young man whose longing for connection finds its most eloquent expression in the physical, both imagined and actual. The names, though, don’t limit the characters, don’t sum them up in tidy signifiers, but rather serve as themes for exploration, starting points for considering the varied and complicated factors that motivate, frustrate and inspire them. Da’Vinchi, Dyllón Burnside Julieta Cervantes

One calls himself Love, another Happiness, another Wisdom, and so on. Each character goes nameless until the play’s end – with one exception that won’t be spoiled here – though what’s revealed aren’t really names so much as character themes. Set in a Brooklyn neighborhood just beginning to feel the shifts of gentrification, the play tells the stories of seven Black men who share both space and heritage. Both playwright and director are Broadway newcomers, and their Thoughts of a Colored Man is a marvel from start to finish.

Broadnax III’s directorial flourishes that are so lovely they elicit gasps. Mixing spoken word, slam poetry, laugh-out-loud comedy, drama and razor-sharp dialogue, Scott’s words are met with Steve H. Billy Porter Joins Producing Team Of Broadway-Aimed Billy Strayhorn Bio-Musical Starring Darius De Haas

Thoughts of a colored man runtime