The time is now right for playwright to debut 30-year-old work

Levi Lobo, left, and Svea Kennedy play Angel and Alana, respectively, in In My Father’s House.

AN unarmed Black man who hasn’t committed a serious crime. Racist and violent police officers. A bystander holding a recording device.

These ingredients have combusted often in the 2000s, with an endless cycle of shootings and resulting outrage challenging the nation’s morals and mental well-being. Some people now pull out their cellphones and start recording anytime they witness or experience a perceived injustice.

More than 30 years ago, the videotaped beating of driver Rodney King by Los Angeles Police Department officers stunned a nation unaccustomed to witnessing that level of brutality or acknowledging systemic racism. None of the four officers charged faced consequences, fueling the deadly 1992 Los Angeles riots that laid bare the nation’s racial divisions to the world.

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