Penumbra

The trick with Zooman and the Sign is bringing the play to life so that it resonates for us now 26 years after it was written. Unfortunately, the reality is that the issues central to this play remain acutely relevant. We still have not learned how to take care of our communities, to stand unified, so that we might prevent another child from growing up feeling abandoned by his or her family, his community, his nation. In the quarter of century since this play was written it has become painfully obvious that aid is not going to come from outside the community.

As Doughboy in John Singleton's "Boyz in the 'Hood" says, "either they don't know, don't show, or don't care about what's going on in the 'hood." The point is that we have to care. We must. At Penumbra Theatre Company we see it as our responsibility to bring to light the issues that face the black community. It is our job, our purpose. So we're going to show you, once again, this story of tragedy, of family, of community and of violence. These are the things which make up a human life: love, pain, sacrifice, fear and pride. These are the things we all carry; we must not fail to recognize these elements in every human life, every human story.

Zooman will scare you. He's supposed to. He is fierce and his anger is unrestrained. He is as desensitized to your life as you are to his; he cares as little for your survival as you do for his. He takes life without worry and survives without really living. He is not in some other place. He is here, now, and we must face him.

Listen to these voices, all of them, but especially his. Find out how he came to be what thunders through the aisles and glares at you from stage. He was a child once. What has happened to this young man to make him Zooman, the epitome of all things base, all things bestial and menacing, all reaction without pause or consideration of the future? This is not television, you cannot flip the channel and make him go away. There is no screen between you and Zooman. You have pledged to sit here, in our intimate house, to endure him, to endure his actions and hear his story. Then it is up to you to decide. Does his story matter? Do you care?

Lou Bellamy

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