There have been several criticisms about period pieces surrounding Black people over the years, basically because they have always been about slavery, struggle, and obsequiousness. A new film is coming to screen however and it seeks to do something totally different.
The famous play titled “The House That Will Not Stand” is being made into a film. For those of us that have not heard about or seen the play, it was partly inspired by the House of Bernarda Alba. It tells the story of free, black women that became millionaires in New Orleans around the 1800s notwithstanding the odds of slavery and sexism among others.
‘The House That Will Not Stand’: Film in development on free black women who became millionaires and fought racial oppression in the 1800s https://t.co/8vMaQpA5SV pic.twitter.com/UX2OGyH2ls
— Shadow and Act (@shadowandact) December 4, 2018
It tells of how these women become wealthy through placage, which is the practice of common law marriages or civil unions between white men and Native American, black or biracial women. The play, originally written by Marcus Gardley, has been optioned by the famous MWM studios. Gardley, who is also the writer of Showtime’s “The Chi,” will be writing the script for the movie adaptation.
The play, “The House That Will Not Stand” premiered earlier this year at the New York Theatre Workshop and it was directed by the talented Liliana Blain-Cruz. Juliana Canfield, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Nedra McClyde, Lynda Gravátt, Harriet D. Foy, Marie Thomas and Michelle Wilson made up the original cast of the play.
With the buzz about the play, fans are extremely excited about the film adaptation even though it is still in the preliminary stages.
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