Douglass the Prophet

Stage vet Keith David plays Frederick Douglass in a poetical work by the documentarian and playwright June Cross, which imagines the abolitionist leader as a prophet of American tragedy. Charlotte Brathwaite directs the world premiere at Harlem Stages as part of a Columbia University series that explores connections between William Shakespeare's plays and Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's Such Sweet Thunder suite. (The play incorporates references to both.)