American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) are currently streaming a filmed reading of Alice Childress’ comedy drama, Trouble in Mind, until 4 April.

As part of the A.C.T. Loud series, Trouble in Mind is directed by Awoye Timpo. It appears in the season alongside George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man (running from 12-18 April), directed by 2020 SAG Award nominee, Obie Award winner and Tony Award nominee Colman Domingo; and Thornton Wilder’sThe Matchmaker (streaming from 26 April–2 May), directed by Dawn Monique Williams.

The filmed reading of Trouble in Mind features Emmy Award nominee David Harbour, 2020 Drama Desk Award nominee Patrice Johnson Chevannes, Steven Anthony Jones, Dakin Matthews, and more.

Planned to open in 1957, Childress’s masterpiece would have been the first play on Broadway to be written by a black woman. However, it was cancelled after she refused to agree to producers’ demands that she soften its core message.

Funny, incisive, and poignant, this play-within-a-play is an unflinching examination of white fragility and liberalism in the theater industry. Roundabout Theatre Company will then present the long-overdue Broadway debut of Trouble in Mind in Autumn 2021.

In conjunction with the reading, A.C.T. will present a special, live discussion and Q&A on Alice Childress and Trouble in Mind on 3 April at 2pm. Co-presented by San Francisco’s Museum of African Diaspora (MoAD), the discussion will be moderated by San Francisco’s new Director of Cultural Affairs Ralph Remington and will address why it has taken 66 years for this acclaimed work to have broader visibility and recognition in the national theater scene, and the unique hurdles of filming a play reading over Zoom, featuring a cast of actors on two continents. Guests include Trouble In Mind director Awoye Timpo, dramaturg and Childress scholar Arminda Thomas, and A.C.T. Artistic Director Pam MacKinnon.

A.C.T. Artistic Director Pam MacKinnon said: “This is the third time in as many years that A.C.T. and MoAD have partnered. I am happy to be in close contact with our neighbor. We both value that the stories by Black artists, like Mfoniso Udofia (Her Portmanteau), Lydia R. Diamond (Toni Stone), and now Alice Childress (A Trouble in Mind) get heard—felt deeply and widely—and live in context.”

For more information and to book tickets, please click here.