Cleansed
by Thomas Bradshaw

"Perhaps your average night at the theater doesn't include screams of 'Nigger Monkey's' and 'Black skinned beasts!' but Thomas Bradshaw's does. The playwright-provocateur presents a wickedly shocking double bull that unapologetically flaunts racial conflict....Bradshaw doesn't deliver a normal night out, but his outrages are worth every second of discomfort."

— Time Out New York

"Tom Bradshaw's most important contribution to society is snatching narrative and its elements back from the clutches of the ordinary"

— Richard Maxwell, Playwright and Director

"Bradshaw has a positive genius for explosive imagery, putting biracial Lauraul in a Klan costume and penning a demonic parody of Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech for Strom Thurmond....Bradshaw has a deep dramatic and linguistic intelligence."

— Village Voice

"These uncomfortably intense plays focus on racism in our society, from the Dixiecrats of the south to the confused generation of today.... The intensity that Bradshaw intended came through tenfold."

— New York Cool

"Thomas Bradshaw is sometimes billed as a playwright/provocateur. In actuality, he is a playwright/academic.... The provocateur comes from the fact that he is a black author who often holds a blinding spotlight on the issues of race and black identity in this country. His work is characterized by an unflinching concentration on the fundamental effects of racism on black self worth.... Strom Thurmond is Not a Racist/Cleansed is a provocative, gripping, and unsettling evening."

— New York City Onstage