Mixed Magic’s Day of Absence Is a Scathing Satire

Day of Absence, now being performed at Pawtucket’s Mixed Magic Theatre, is a scathing satire of racism set in the deep South. Written in 1965 by Douglas Turner Ward, a black playwright who founded the Negro Ensemble Theatre, the play examines the effect on the white residents of a small town when all the black residents disappear.

The white characters in Day of Absence have a collective freak-out when they can’t find any black people anywhere. Who will do all the menial chores? Tensions escalate between John (Rudy Cabrera) and Mary (Yolanda Crockett Combs) when their maid doesn’t show up. Their baby is crying non-stop and Mary burns John’s breakfast. Mary has depended on her black servant to perform all the household chores. “I’m lost without her,” Mary admits.

Meanwhile, the Mayor (Jay Walker) launches a search for the missing blacks and delivers a televised appeal in the hopes they will return. “We need you,” the Mayor says. “You belong to us.”

Director Ricardo Pitts-Wiley has created a crisply paced show with strong performances. The cast, which also features Amos Hamrick, Thomas Melvin, MaKeisha Horsley and Jeannie Carson, displays a sharp sense of comic timing.

When this play was first performed, the struggle for civil rights was still being fought. The prospect of a black man being president must have seemed unthinkable. Many people think we have made tremendous progress in achieving racial equality in this country since then, but the numerous protests against the police who have killed young black men are a reminder that injustice still exists.

Day of Absence holds up a mirror to white America. It made me think that maybe it’s time for everyone take a good hard look at the treatment people of color receive in this country. Says director Pitts-Wiley, “It is a picture of the American culture that is both disturbing and hopeful. Funny and painful. Just like America.”

Day of Absence runs thru Oct 3, Mixed Magic Theatre, 560 Mineral Spring Avenue, Pawtucket. mmtri.com or 401.305.7333.

Day of Absence holds up a mirror to white America. It made me think that maybe it’s time we take a good hard look at ourselves and how we treat people of color in this country. And based on the work of Pitts-Wiley and company, we will be all the richer for doing so.  

Day of Absence runs through October 3, Mixed Magic Theatre, 560 Mineral Spring Avenue, Pawtucket. For tickets, visit mmtri.com or call 401-305-7333.