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Sex Diary of an Infidel
Artistic Director's Statement
Many will recognize the title Sex Diary of an Infidel from our 2001-02 Season. My decision to disband the creative team and drop the show due to our deficit and budget considerations was truly frustrating. Artists, foundations and other supporters wondered if our artistic compass had been thrown off course. Some assumed that Sex Diary of an Infidel was too provocative for Penumbra Theatre. Some wondered why the play had been included in the season at all.

Penumbra has always been a pioneer in pushing the envelope both artistically and thematically. We have a national reputation because audiences, artists and funders recognize our creative endeavors as courageous. As African Americans we recognize certain patterns in colonial behavior almost immediately. The state of the world in the wake of global colonialism is central to our history and our future. It was our labor and participation in the creation of this nation that ushered the United States into the 21st century as a superpower of monumental proportion. This production speaks volumes not only about the proximity of cultures to one another under global capitalism, but to the tenacity of the human spirit to find connection, to find support, to survive.

The mounting of this play is testament to our resolve. Even during its hiatus, the creative team behind this project was enthusiastic and encouraged about the prospect of it on the horizon. Almost four years later, I am proud to bring the American premiere of this outstanding play to Minnesota audiences.

We're better than ever before and committed to bringing fresh work to the region, producing it under the finest artistic standards, and as always, from within the African American experience. At Penumbra, we provide the table at which artists and audiences alike may sit down and rigorously engage one another with complicated questions. This show, produced by Penumbra, brings the conversation to a level frankly not possible anywhere else. This is the very essence of what it means to find human commonality, cultural connection and sustenance outside and in spite of the pillars of oppression. Welcome to the discussion.


Lou Bellamy
Artistic Director