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Hooded; Or Being Black For Dummies

Opened: November 30, -0001
Buy Tickets from: $25

Hooded; Or Being Black For Dummies Off-Broadway Tickets, News, Info & More

Hooded; Or Being Black For Dummies is a wickedly funny story of a chance relationship between two 14-year old black youth, living in the same city, but growing up in totally different worlds. Marquis is a book smart prep-schooler living with his adoptive white family in the affluent suburb of Achievement Heights, obsessed with the philosophy of Nietzsche; Tru is a street savvy kid from the inner city of Baltimore, obsessed with Tupac. Their worlds overlap in a holding cell, a first for Marquis, who has been protected by his family’s privilege, but all too familiar to Tru. They butt heads, debate, wrestle and ultimately prove Nietzsche and Tupac were really saying the same thing.



From Director, Anthony Richardson: Tru and Marquis are two young kids from opposite sides of the tracks who cross paths in a jail cell. Tru will try to instill lessons of survival in Marquis, which will offer him a portal into an untapped cultural knowledge that can’t be duplicated, even when outside forces work diligently to steal the “secret.” At the core, Hooded is a pseudo-satirical examination of “culture as mask or costume” and the social dynamics that exist in the lead-up to racialized violence against black people. Black men and white men; black men and white women; white women and white men; and now, due to casting, a possible glimpse of all those in relation to black women.


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by Evan Henerson - Apr 11, 2022


Ahmed Best's production expertly blends fantasy, pop cultural references and the keen observation of a sharp script. HOODED is an instruction manual for lovers of good drama.  

L.A. Premiere Of HOODED, OR BEING BLACK FOR DUMMIES Explores Racial Identity, Privilege and Pop Culture At The Echo
by A.A. Cristi - Feb 3, 2022


The Echo Theater Company presents an irreverent, darkly funny coming-of-age story that explores racial identity, privilege and pop culture with insight, passion and biting humor. Ahmed Best directs the Los Angeles premiere of Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies by rising-star playwright Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm, set to open March 12 for a six-week run through April 18. Three “pay what you want” previews take place on March 9, March 10 and March 11.


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