Speed of Dark is a powerful character driven drama by local playwright and Artie Award winner, Mark Humphrey. It tells the story of four men placed in an impossible situation by a racist law, called the Sundown or Sundowner Law, in a town in America in the 1970s.

A Theatrical Debut

The Cast & Crew

Over the course of the play, the four men reveal themselves to each other in deep and sometimes surprising ways. Each character is well drawn by the playwright, and each actor embodies his role so well that they seem like real people having real conversations and arguments, exposing their hopes and fears, anger and dreams denied, and in the process allowing the audience to see them at their most vulnerable and most human.

Vincenzo L. McNeill is David, the most vocal and angry of the men, and the catalyst for all that follows between them. Mr. McNeill is excellent – belligerent and cynical, prodding the others to frustration and anger with his snide comments and ruthless criticisms of the others. He tells a very funny, rather disturbing lengthy story at the start of the play that both amuses and annoys the others and gets the ball rolling, as it were. Toward the end, he gives more than a glimpse of his humanity underneath his harsh, unfeeling exterior.

Hugh Davis is Richard, the senior citizen of the group who is more than annoyed by David’s antics. He seems world-weary and just wants to get the job done and go home. David’s constant breaks and laissez-faire attitude toward work get under his skin very quickly, and tempers flare. He gives as good as he gets, and the two express very different experiences and beliefs about the racism that informs every aspect of their lives and the way they manage their lives in relation to it.

Monish Bhattacharayya is Dev, the foreman on the job, and the only one who could go outside without repercussions. He does a fine job of expressing his anguish about what it is like to belong nowhere in America, being too white for blacks, and too black for whites. He is a calming presence at times and points out the futility and absurdity of the men fighting each other when the angry mob outside would tear them all apart in a heartbeat.

Quentin Gray is Gerry, a young college man. His naivete about the danger they are all in sends David into a fury. Mr. Gray’s quiet presence, being the youngest in the group, belies his character’s own strong beliefs that he expresses in no uncertain terms when pushed to his limit by the others.

Don’t Miss Your Chance to See Speed of Dark

Each character expresses his views about race and racism based on his own life experiences and the culture was like when they grew up. The three Black men are a generation apart and have had vastly different life experiences that inform how they view themselves, their lives, each other, and the society they live in.

Directed by Matthew LaChiusa, the taut 90-minute play leaves no stone unturned in expressing the frustration, pain, fear, rage, and hope of people who are the target of racism in America or anyplace else.