Bob Hess

Follow an experienced Black stage actress through rehearsals of a major Broadway production in Alice Childress’s funny, moving, and ultimately shattering look at racism, identity, and ego in the high-stakes world of New York theatre. A scathing indictment of racism in American commercial theatre, Trouble in Mind tells the story of Wiletta Mayer, a Black actress cast in a supposedly “progressive” play about racism by a white male author—it turns out to be anything but progressive.

A broken down ex-rodeo cowboy, Roper, is down on his luck. He has three weeks to pay three months rent when he reads about the couple of the year in the newspaper, and decides to kidnap the wife, Goodwina for ransom. Goodie is the sweetest country girl ever, and she married a country boy, only to have him change into a city politician who is sleeping with his assistant. He mocks her for her country ways. After Roper kidnaps Goodie, They initially hate each other (understandably so), but when Roper calls in for a ransom, her husband tells him that he doesn't want her back.