BY ISADORA ZUCKER ’25

On Saturday, December 7th, the Skidmore Theater’s Mainstage production Black Super Hero Magic Mama closed to enthusiastic cheers and a standing ovation. Directed by Dr. Eunice Ferreira and written by Inda Craig-Galván, the show was a loving exploration of both the healing power of art and family, as well as the tragedy of police brutality and the injustice seen within the American criminal justice system. Not only was this a beautiful production, it was also a historic one, marking the first ever Skidmore Theater Mainstage production to have been written by a Black playwright. From the wonderful text written by Craig-Galván to the sense of community so clearly imbued throughout the cast and crew, every aspect of this production was treated with care and heart, allowing for both the depth of central tragedy, as well as the sparkle seen in the moments of joy and love to really come through to the audience. This show explored heavy themes, such as police brutality, gun violence, racism, and dissociative depression, all of which will be discussed in this article; please take care of yourself as you read on if any of these topics are particularly sensitive ones for you.

Even before entering the theater, audiences were transported into a world of superheroes and social justice by the wonderful decorations and informational stations set up around the lobby. From a board where you could write your own superpower to stands with information on local Black activist groups, the main themes of the piece were immediately established. For more information, please visit the interactive dramaturgical website here:
https://bshmmskidmore.wixsite.com/blacktheater

Walking into the theater, the audience could see the stage made up of large, comic-book-like panels stretching from ceiling to floor. Additionally, there was an elevated wagon on stage decorated like a teenager’s bedroom, with trophies and books on the shelf, comic book posters on the walls, and stuffed animals strewn about. The show opened on Sabrina (Local Actress Jocelyn Khoury) cleaning this bedroom—which we quickly learned is her 14-year-old son’s room—and reminisced over the various knick knacks she saw. Upon seeing his copy of Harry Potter in a bin labeled “trash,” she first made a quick dig at J.K. Rowling’s problematic behaviors, and then went on to start describing the typical characteristics surrounding the protagonists of such youth adventure books; they are almost always orphaned or soon-to-be so, they’re frequently young boys, and they’re almost always white. After a little while longer, she gave her son Tramarion (Darren Jackson-Wilkins ‘25) a small kiss on the forehead and wished him goodnight.

As the next morning rolled around, Tramarion nearly leapt awake, visibly excited and ready for the black history quiz show Know Your Heritage that he is participating in later that day. The audience was then able to take a step into Tramarion’s inner world, a brightly lit, colorful environment complete with energetic music and a charismatic gameshow host; we watched as he conjured up this imaginary host (Mbaye Seck ‘25) to help quiz him on his knowledge and get him in top form for the competition later in the day. After answering the most difficult question correctly, loud cheers erupted and Sabrina re-entered the room with a basket full of laundry. She was both talking to Tramarion in his room, as well as her sister Lena (Bree Dossou ‘28) over the phone, as she began to fold Tramarion’s clothes on his bed. The three of them bantered, talking about work, Tramarion’s upcoming TV stardom, and tighty-whiteys, while Tramarion pressed Sabrina about taking the club van to the competition with the rest of his team. All three actors were able to create a truly familial feel in this scene, even while Lena was standing in a different area of the stage and not physically in the space with Sabrina and Tramarion. Eventually Lena said goodbye, and Tramarion headed off to the competition, but not without giving his mother a big hug and getting his freshly-laundered lucky shirt—a t-shirt adorned with a superhero logo—from her.

The shift into the next scene was drastic, as the upbeat game show music which followed the previous scene faded into an eerie, nebulous hum filling the stage. Sabrina entered her son’s bedroom once again, appearing to be in a state of shock as she placed a trophy on his shelf and removed her jacket to reveal blood-stained clothes underneath. As this was happening, a shift occurred as one of the comic book screens lifted, allowing for a wagon resembling a news desk to appear with news anchor Connie Wright (Jojo Zou ‘26) reporting breaking news. Another news anchor, Tom Blackman (Shane Forbes ‘28), entered through the house-right stairwell, and a live video feed of him was streamed to a TV feed behind Connie in the newsroom. In moments such as these where there was such interesting use of the theater for staging, I found myself impressed by Dr. Ferreira’s creative use of the space, truly creating an immersive feel that is hard to achieve in such a large theater. The two reporters then shared the news of a recent police shooting, the victim having been none other than Tramarion. The head of the team, Coach Brackett (Ace Hafez ‘27) had accidentally locked himself out of the team’s van, and attempted to unlock the door himself instead of calling for help. A police officer saw this and thought the team was trying to break into the van, and upon seeing Tramarion, he mistook the victory trophy the was holding from the Know Your Heritage competition as a weapon and shot him in response.

The next scene was then a flashback to a few months prior, showing Tramarion in his bedroom with his friend Flat Joe (Jae Tolentino ‘28) writing a comic book together. The main character, the Massai Angel, was directly based on Sabrina, showing the respect both boys have for her. Joking about her extrasensory perception, or ESP, the two boys continue on in slightly hushed voices as to not alert Sabrina of their presence. They continued to banter as friends, and eventually lightly quarrel over Flat Joe’s casual use of the n word, as Sabrina is against using the word so nonchalantly. As the boys admired Flat Joe’s artistic skills, Sabrina knocked on the door and entered the room, causing them to hide the comic book, with Flat Joe leaving soon after. Sabrina proceeded to advise Tramarion against hanging out with Flat Joe, citing him as a bad influence and a “thug.” Offended by his mother’s treatment of his friends, Tramarion angrily changed some of the Massai Angel’s lines in the comic book, replacing them with the words “I am the Maasai Angel. I stand up for those people society throws away. Or… I don’t.” As this happened, Sabrina began to fade back into the present moment, showing how lost she was in grief and the memories of her son.

The news reporter duo then re-entered the space, seeming confused to the lack of involvement from Sabrina as so many people have come to expect some sort of martyr figure to rally around in situations such as this. The broadcast ended as Connie shared with Tom that a new reporter was going to be sent to dig up more information on Sabrina. The scene then cut back to Sabrina in the bedroom as Lena came to visit and check up on her. Sabrina was visibly falling further into a depressive state at this point, unable to answer the phone, open mail, or begin to arrange any sort of funeral proceedings for Tramarion, leaving all of those things to her worried sister. Lena then began to suggest that Sabrina should talk to Coach Brackett, explaining that he is filled with guilt over what happened and that it could help bring both of them some sort of closure. Angry at the fact that Lena would even suggest that, Sabrina fires back, prying into Lena’s relationship with the Coach, and essentially blaming him for the death of Tramarion. Lena, defeated, then left to go run Sabrina a bath.

Just as Lena left, Connie the news anchor then arrived, entering the bedroom unannounced. After
exchanging some awkward, slightly stilted attempts at small talk, Connie then tries to pitch an exclusive news segment to Sabrina, explaining that she is still in a position to try and control the narrative surrounding Tramarion’s murder and should take advantage of the power she has. Sabrina, however, was not really listening, instead becoming distracted by a bright, glowing light, filling the whole theater. The light pulsed and almost seemed to run around the space, giving the illusion that it was alive. While Connie tried to press on despite the other woman’s clearly distracted state, Sabrina had a moment of recognition, frantically finding the comic book written by Tramarion and Flat Joe and flipping through the pages. She eventually found what she was looking for: a panel in the book with a bright light labeled “The Entity.” At this point, Connie became concerned and left the room, both realizing she was not getting anywhere with Sabrina and that there was clearly more going on than she’d initially anticipated.

Sabrina stood, fully engrossed by The Entity, as Coach Brackett and Tramarion entered the stage
in a flashback of sorts, showing an average after-school team study session in preparation for the quiz show. As the two plowed through questions, they began to have friendly conversation, showing how close the relationship between Coach Brackett and Tramarion truly was. As this conversation came to a close, Dave Lester, the cop who shot Tramarion, then entered the stage as Tramarion left. At this point, Coach Brackett, Dave, and Sabrina were all back in the present moment, trying to grapple with the aftermath of the shooting in their own ways. Both Coach Brackett and Dave were trying to write some sort of apology to Sabrina, both blaming themselves fully for the death of Tramarion. They both began explaining how sorry they were, and how they weren’t even technically allowed to say sorry because of their lawyers. This moment was particularly interesting to me, as this was the only time in the play where we got a bit of insight into who Dave was. Instead of being written as a gruff, openly racist cop on a power trip, we learn that Dave is actually an amoral guy. He shared that should he have been allowed, he’d be out on the streets alongside the protestors rallying for justice, and that he is truly devastated about the mistake he made. The choice to portray the cop who murdered Tramarion as a quote unquote “good guy” was incredibly smart, as it both highlights how complex situations like this are, and places more blame upon the larger criminal justice and police systems as a whole as opposed to individual “bad people.”

The two continued to apologize, until suddenly Sabrina started responding to them, warning
them to keep her son’s name out of their mouths. When both began to talk about Tramarion in
unison, it overwhelmed Sabrina, and caused her to let out a scream, stopping both men in their
tracks and summoning the full light of the mysterious Entity. Flat Joe and Tramarion then
entered again in another flashback, raking superheroes that didn’t have inherent superpowers and
debating whether the Massai Angel should be given any. The scene ends as Flat Joe begins to
leave to avoid annoying Sabrina, going on about how protective she is and explaining that she
would lose her mind if anything were to happen to Tramarion.

The next scene brought the story back to the present, with Lena once again visiting Sabrina, this
time bringing Flat Joe with her to give his condolences. Sabrina angrily fired back, screaming at
the two of them to leave, just as Connie began to share the breaking news that Dave Lester had
been let go free of charge. At this moment, Sabrina saw The Entity once more, the light marking
a path offstage into a territory beyond. As the light grew brighter, Sabrina made the decision to
follow it, disappearing into a world beyond her own, and ending the first act.

Act 2 opens on Sabrina entering the space as the Massai Angel, fully decked out in the same
costume seen in Tramarion and Flat Joe’s comic, and accompanied with large, comic-book panel
projections on the screens behind her. This act represented Sabrina’s full mental transition into
the comic book world, chasing down the mysterious Entity she caught glimpses of during act 1.
In order to track down The Entity, Sabrina needed to defeat waves of supervillains who all
seemed to resemble people from her real life. She started by confronting Lady Vulture and
Human Hyena, dramatized versions of the predatory news reporters Connie and Tom. The two
appeared from within Tramarion’s room, with Human Hyena manifesting from within his closet,
and Lady Vulture somehow emerging up through his bed, making reference to how Connie had
intruded into his space earlier on in the play. While fighting them, the Massai Angel accidentally
fell into their trap—a dramatized press conference where she is grilled on how she is reacting to
Tramrion’s death and pressured to give reassuring words to the public. She eventually was able
to find the power within herself and defeat the two villains, after which a projection displayed
that she “leveled the fuck up.”

Once the two scattered off, The Entity reappeared, lighting up the stage as the Massai Angel
begged it to give her back what it had taken from her. At the same time, Lena entered the stage,
still existing solely in the real world and seemingly trying to talk to an unresponsive, bedridden
Sabrina. It almost seemed as if Lena was speaking through The Entity, reaching out to Sabrina
through another plane. She explained that she’s starting to get overwhelmed with trying to plan
the funeral proceedings for Tramarion alone, and that if Sabrina doesn’t get better she may need
to be hospitalized.

Just as it seemed like Sabrina may respond, The Entity reappeared, ushering in a new villain
resembling Coach Brackett named Deep Thinker. He enters alongside a large, game show wheel,
each section labeled with a different trivia category related to black history. Something that stood
out to me about this fight is the fact that at first, Deep Thinker pretended to be a slightly goofy,
innocent figure, not interested in harming the Massai Angel and just doing what the story told
him, only to reveal that he is indeed a bad guy once he lowered Sabrina’s guard. This reflected
Sabrina’s view of Coach Brackett in the real world, as she pictured him as some sort of
irresponsible, manipulative figure not to be trusted. She eventually used Deep Thinker’s own trap
against him, pinning him against the magnetized game show wheel and zapping him with
electricity as he was eventually wheeled offstage. At this point, Lena entered again, wheeling on
an empty wheelchair which presumably had Sabrina’s real body in it. Time passed differently in
the real world, and Sabrina’s state had deteriorated enough that she had to be hospitalized, stuck
in the dissociative comic book world her son created. Flat Joe and Tramarion then entered in
another flashback, once again discussing superheroes without powers and debating what power
to bestow upon the Massai Angel. They eventually agreed on one, once again taking inspiration
from the real life Sabrina: ESP.

The Massai Angel re-entered the space once more, frustrated to find yet another villain she had
to face. This one was different from the rest though, as projections and warnings of danger filled
the panels behind her. Eventually, Dave Lester entered as the villain Death Tap, rising from a trap
door beneath the stage in a cloud of smoke. Death Tap, a gun-slinging cowboy, begins to fight
the Massai Angel, with her showing off her ESP skills in battle. This was definitely the longest and most complex fight scene of the show, continuing for at least 20 to 30 seconds and accompanied with extreme flashing strobe lights, numerous sound effects, and hand-to-hand fight moments. The strobe effect made some of the moments in the fight look almost like they were being done in stop motion, as if rapidly flipping through panels in a comic book. The Massai Angel eventually overwhelmed Death Tap, pointing one of his guns at his own head. Just as she was about to make him pull the trigger, The Entity reappeared once more, finally calling out to her in Tramarion’s voice followed by a blackout.

The Massai Angel reawakened in the next scene tied to comic book train tracks displayed on one
of the comic book panels behind her. As she descended further into the comic book world, she

slowly became more lost in it, as she had literally begun to directly interact with the comic book
panels themself. While she called out in confusion, Flat Joe entered the stage as Black Superman
on his trusty red scooter. They began to talk in a much more civil manner than any of the other
interactions the Massai Angel had had up to this point, and eventually Black Superman freed her
from the train tracks. He then slowly but surely, began to remind the Massai Angel of her true
self, of the real world and their real relationship, even if it was strained. Sabrina resisted at first,
so lost in her identity as the Massai Angel that she wasn’t able to remember anything else.

The back and forth between Massai Angel and Black Superman continued, until suddenly,
Tolentino seemed to break character, addressing the audience as himself rather than any of the
characters we had seen him play up to this point. Suddenly, the house lights rose, and Khoury too
broke out of her character, talking to the audience alongside her fellow actor. They shared a
message directly from the playwright, explaining the core idea she wanted to convey with the
play. They explain that while Sabrina isn’t real, this story is one that has played out before, and
will unfortunately play out again. All that we can do is to continue on, and find comfort in those
we hold dear. After this statement, the show resumed, and both actors became their characters
once more. Black Superman then shared that the only way for the Massai Angel to return to the
real world was to face The Entity, head on. She then turned around as one of the comic book
screens lifted to reveal a large, glowing mass of lights shining right out towards the audience,
which she then walked into, finally facing The Entity. I appreciated the distinction between
facing The Entity and fighting it, as sometimes the bravest thing to do isn’t to fight, but to have
the courage to simply face your demons.

The Massai Angel then appeared back in Tramarion’s bedroom, finding him waiting for her. At
first, she was overwhelmed, trying desperately to bring him back to the real world with her. The
comic book panels on the stage displayed a large, glowing entity of warm light, with a silhouette
of a young boy in the center. Tramarion, or some sort of metaphysical projection of him, had
been The Entity all along, following the Maasai Angel through all of her adventures and trying to
finally help her face her grief. The two shared a heartfelt conversation, where Sabrina let the
Maasai Angel fade away to reveal her inner self and finally express her guilt, grief, and love.
This moment truly tugged at the heartstrings; Sabrina’s grief felt so palpable and heavy, but the
amount of love these two characters showed for each other not only cut through it, but deepened
the pain of the loss. After all, the greatest grief must first require the presence of the deepest
love. Tramarion eventually convinced Sabrina to return to the real world, because as much as she
loved him, there were still people who needed her out there. The two wished each other farewell,
and exchanged final sentiments of “I love you,” a last goodbye which was stolen from them in
the real world. Tramarion then walked back into the light of The Entity, disappearing physically
within it, but still living on in Sabrina’s heart.

At that moment, Lena and Flat Joe arrived in Sabrina’s room, finding her not only up and walking by herself, but actually responding to conversation for the first time in what seemed to have been weeks or months. After getting over the shock of Sabrina’s rapid improvement, Flat Joe hands her a finalized, printed copy of the comic book that he and Tramarion had been writing: The Maasai Angel’s Adventures, with Black Superman. The show ended as Sabrina began to read, finally able to see her son in the real world once more—his creativity, his passion, his joy, his love—as a little bit of him was infused into every page.

Every element of this show was truly executed beautifully—from the acting to the myriad of lights, the sound cues to the comic book art, the passion of the director and dedication of the stage management team alike, it truly took a village to create such a heartfelt piece of theater. I was consistently impressed by the actors, and their ability to switch between the realism and darkness of the first act, to the over the-top, comic book world of the second. Additionally, the lighting, sound, and set designs were all so complex, yet they were all executed with such precision and truly aided the storytelling of the piece. The comic book art, done by the incredibly talented Marcus Kwame Anderson, created an immersive environment, really bringing the audience into the realm of comic books and superheroes. And of course, none of this would have been possible with the passion and dedication of Director Eunice Ferreira; watching the show, it was so evident how connected she felt to the piece, and how much true love and care she put into her vision for it.

Navigating a piece like this is no small feat, and I truly applaud every person who was involved in the production. Exploring both love and loss, racism and black joy, and violence and tenderness, this show existed as a dichotomy, exploring how multifaceted the issues of police brutality and grief are. As dark as this show was at times, I really appreciated that it ended on such a note of hope, even despite the grief present throughout the piece. To quote the playwright Craig-Galván: