Victory Gardens Theater will swap out a previously announced Marcus Gardley world premiere for this spring, A Wonder in My Soul, for a newer Gardley play written in response to recent racial unease. An Issue of Blood ventures back to 17th-century America and a woman known as Negro Mary in order to address current events.
"I became obsessed with the tragic loss of Tamir Rice, Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin. And no matter how I tried to shake it off, it was getting into my writing. I could NOT not write about what was/is happening in our country," said Gardley in a statement. VG artistic director Chay Yew indicates that the decision to trade out Wonder for a new title was made within the last month, and before Gardley had begun work on An Issue of Blood. Yew will stage the new work, set to run April 3–May 3. Gardley's last Victory Gardens premiere, The Gospel of Lovingkindness, earned a spot on my list of the best plays of 2014.