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# Theater presents a lot of ‘Black Stuff’
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/theater-presents-a-lot-of-black-stuff/
- Published: 2004-02-06T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T03:44:19.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Entertainment, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

It’s nothing but black stuff at the Highways Performance Space this month. The theater, 1651 18th St., is celebrating Black History Month in February by presenting “Black Stuff,” a trip through the minds of African-American performance artists LeVan D. Hawkins and Alexander Thomas as they examine the impact race has had on their lives.

Black Stuff runs Feb. 19 through Feb. 22, Thursday through Saturday, 8:30 p.m.; Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Admission is $15.

Some of the subjects and characters examined include reparations and coupons; the dilemma of the “white black man” who has to learn to “walk black” out of fear of being called a traitor; an elderly black man who sees black serial killers as racial progress; the mother who demands her sons choose women from the color rainbow of “high yella to coal black,” a black friend and white friend with extremely different views helping another black friend examine why he didn’t get the job he was promised; the black male prototype who is the “true” representative of the black race; current events including Strom Thurmond, Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant and Whitney Houston; and the black bodyguard at St. Peter’s gate who sentences “white black men” to “limbo” to party with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, activist Ward Connerly and radio/television personality Larry Elder.

“Expect the unexpected,” said writer/performance artist Hawkins whose work has appeared in the LA Times, LA Weekly and LA Frontiers. “During our development process, we’ve surprised each other and have even surprised ourselves. How could we not? As children we identified with different economic classes. I grew up in an all-black environment until I was 17 and in California, have lived in predominately white West Hollywood and Larchmont Village and Alex grew up in a predominately white environment in Albany, New York and now lives in south central LA He’s straight; I’m a same-gender loving black man.” (White translation: Gay.) Both Hawkins and Thomas’ last shows at Highways have gone on to be performed outside Los Angeles.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 6, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/020604.pdf?ref=smdp.com)