The Niceties
by Eleanor Burgess

Off-Broadway
The Niceties Book Cover
The Niceties Cover

Highlights

105 minsPresent DayRole(s) for Black Actor(s)Interior SetContemporary Costumes/Street Clothes

Synopsis

Zoe, a Black student at a liberal arts college, is called into her white professor’s office to discuss her paper about slavery’s effect on the American Revolution.

What begins as a polite clash in perspectives explodes into an urgent debate about race, history and power.

Press Reviews

"Burgess generates a verbal whirlwind with a words-per-minute velocity that rivals Aaron Sorkin."

— The Boston Globe

"An articulate expression of #blacklivesmatter anger as well as a Millennial rebel yell."

— The Arts Fuse

"A barnburner of a play… One of the best plays I’ve seen about who gets to tell the story of America, and how."

— The Washington Post

Characters

Character
Zoe Reed

Female, Black, twenty. A college student.

Janine Bosko

Female, white, early sixties. A college professor.

Videos

Portland Stage: The Niceties

Publication

PublisherSamuel French
BindingPaperback
ISBN-139780573707995
ISBN-100573707995

The Niceties is a play written by Eleanor Burgess and published by Samuel French.

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Rating

4.2

108 ratings·219 reviews

Review

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Performance Rights

Available for Licensing
Amateur & Professional
Fee:Minimum Fee: $130 per performance
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