The Shine Challenge, 2025

The pioneering Black novelist and poet Ishmael Reed is 86 years old, but he's still sounding the call for the African-American literary tradition. In this new work, he pays tribute to the classic comedic storytelling "toast" figure of Shine, a worldly-wise old stoker on the Titanic who warned in vain that the ship was in danger, and imagines him standing trial after the disaster—and acting as his own lawyer. Brian Simmons plays the title character in the TNC production, directed by Rome Neal.