This archive report was first published on 11 September 2019.
On the heels of a sold-out production, the creative team behind 'Slave Play' is gearing up for another run on Broadway. However, this time around, they're determined to control the visuals.
Press photographers are being barred from shooting scenes that feature sex, nudity, or the character Kaneisha wearing slave garb. According to Mr. Nobile, the team wants to be 'extraordinarily careful about how we use the images of the play,' given the current state of the world.
Deun Ivory, a photographer hired by the production, is tasked with visually documenting the things that make black women powerful and beautiful. In a photo studio, Ms. Kalukango posed on a stool, wearing an oversized dress shirt cinched by a vintage corset, and displaying the fleshy interior of a halved cantaloupe.
The shirt and corset represent contrasting themes, with the shirt speaking to the mischaracterization of strength in black women as 'masculinity' and the corset representing both sexual freedom and bondage. The melon, a prop in the show, adds an air of mystery.
Steven Tartick, the executive creative director at RPM, the play's marketing agency, explained that the campaign is designed to generate curiosity, encouraging people to want to learn more about the show.
Ms. Kalukango landed the role after her friend Teyonah Parris, who played Kaneisha downtown, decided not to join the Broadway production. Ms. Parris is currently starring in Jordan Peele's 'Candyman.'
