Agape Mngomezulu and Charlotte Salisbury in Romeo Pimp | Photo by Nate Colitto
Playwright Jesse McQueen’s challenge to the Hollywood depiction of sex trafficking is not so much undermined by the tropes she’s landed on, but enhanced by them; they throw the truthful nuances into stirring relief. Romeo Pimp, the first production of The King Black Box’s second season and presented in partnership with One East Productions, does sometimes feel like an after school special, but that quality works in tandem with a through line of authenticity that holds fast in the writing, design and performance.
And it’s all very intense—this invitation to probe the circumstances of a handful of characters and humanize a numbing statistic by allowing us to witness firsthand how good people fall into a bad situation. Continue Reading