This Bitter Earth
by Harrison David Rivers

Name: This Bitter Earth
Brand: Harrison David Rivers
SKU: 9780573708992
Rating: 3.94 (17 reviews)

This Bitter Earth Book Cover — This Bitter Earth Cover

Highlights

Male

90 mins Present Day Role(s) for Black Actor(s) Unit Set/Multiple Settings Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes

Synopsis

This Bitter Earth; An intimate, romantic and gripping stage play about what happens when love is challenged by divisive political realities.

Published alongside its UK premiere at Soho Theatre, London, in 2025, starring Omari Douglas.

Press Reviews

"Easily one of the best plays of 2018… a beautiful, painful, tender play about a gay couple, one black and one white, who find themselves both in love and at odds because of politics."
— Chicago Onstage

"A lusty, delirious, time-suspending and pulse-pounding journey. It is also – as intimated by the title – both a vigil that is being kept for hope and ‘chronicle of a death foretold."
— DC Theatre Scene

"An intense, analytical journey to the intersection of race and politics… evidencing a talented writer with a poet’s touch and a fast-beating heart. It homes with unusual alacrity on one of the central dilemmas faced by activists: How to deal with those who refuse to partake, especially when that means people with whom you are sharing a bed?"
— Chicago Tribune

"Compassionate and devastating… equal parts searing and touching, gut-wrenching and romantic… challenges the complacency of even the most supposedly ‘woke’ of audience members… This Bitter Earth is a must-see in 2018."
— Chicago Theater Beat

"A play for today. Filled with nuance… stunningly smart and memorable."
— Chicago Theatre Review

Characters

Character	Gender	Age	Description
JESSE HOWARD Late 20s-early 30s. Hyper-aware of his body – not in a productive way. Serious, passionate, black. He wields his wit like a weapon. A playwright.	male	20s	Late 20s-early 30s. Hyper-aware of his body – not in a productive way. Serious, passionate, black. He wields his wit like a weapon. A playwright.
NEIL FINLEY-DARDEN Late 20s-early 30s. Disarmingly beautiful and completely unaware. Compassionate, privileged, white. He means well. An enthusiast.	male	20s	Late 20s-early 30s. Disarmingly beautiful and completely unaware. Compassionate, privileged, white. He means well. An enthusiast.