Beginning Sept. 22, Malvern-based theatre People’s Light opens the 2023/24 season with the world premiere of Bonez by acclaimed actor, director, and playwright Steve H. Broadnax III.

An Associate Artistic Director at People’s Light, Broadnax brings the social horror genre to the stage in this chilling investigation of masculinity, intimacy, and childhood demons. Bonez is directed by Broadnax and features stage and screen actors Elijah Jones, Eric Robinson Jr., John Clarence Stewart, and Keith A. Wallace. The play runs from Sept. 22 to Oct. 15, with 24 performances presented on the Steinbright stage.

In Bonez, “The Bruhs” Derek, Remello, and PJ gather for an evening game of dominoes at their friend Trey’s new “deluxe apartment in the sky.” Knock. Over beers and “bones,” the players laugh, place bets, and swap stories. KNOCK. As the drinks flow, dominoes are drawn, the bets escalate, and the game intensifies; all the while a mysterious banging from next door grows louder and louder. KNOCK! Before long, childhood demons emerge, and the four men begin to question what they think they know about masculinity, intimacy, and what makes a man.

Broadnax’s latest play was inspired by a series of gatherings that acted as a safe haven where Black men could peel away societal masks and share about everything from sexuality, intimacy, and sports, to harrowing tales of police brutality. It was a space where the laughter of shared childhood memories coexisted with somber debates on masculinity, challenging stereotyped definitions of manhood.

“As a passionate horror aficionado, I couldn’t help but recognize the uncanny parallels between the genre and the lived Black male experience,” said Broadnax. “Horror is an exploration of our deepest fears that magnifies and distorts the facets of reality, repackaging them in ways that confront, and sometimes even liberate, the viewer or reader. The Black male journey, with its inherited traumas and societal pressures, naturally aligns with such a narrative. These real-life anxieties – the terror of being deemed ‘less than’, the pressure to don a façade of strength, the weight of generational trauma – become metaphorical demons in Bonez.”

The world premiere presentation of Bonez at People’s Light is highlighted by a cast of four renowned actors. Actor, writer, director, and North Philadelphia native Keith A. Wallace performs as the host of the play’s fateful domino gathering, Trey. He’s joined by stage and screen actor Elijah Jones as Derek, and actor and singer John Clarence Stewart as PJ. Actor and author Eric Robinson Jr. returns to People’s Light as Remello after previously appearing in Mud Row in 2019.

“From the moment Steve shared his idea for Bonez, I was all in,” said Zak Berkman, Producing Artistic Director at People’s Light. “Lurking underneath a raucous domino party is an interrogation of longstanding myths of masculinity and power that not only possess these individual men but also grips one generation after another in our society. What better way is there to open our 49th season and welcome the Halloween chill in the fall air than to conjure a new kind of theatre that delights and disturbs in equal measure?”

An Associate Artistic Director and New Play Frontiers commissioned writer at People’s Light, Broadnax is driven to present art that mirrors the complex human society in which we live. As a director, he led numerous productions across the U.S. and beyond, including the Broadway presentation of Thoughts of a Colored Man and the 2021 premiere of Katori Hall’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Hot Wing King. As a playwright, he wrote and directed Bayard Rustin: Inside Ashland at People’s Light in 2021, which told the story of the prominent gay Civil Rights activist Bayard Rustin with actor Reggie D. White in the starring role.

Bonez is a part of Queerways, PA, an extension of the People’s Light New Play Frontiers program dedicated to sharing stories from queer communities in Chester County. Lead support for Bonez and Queerways, PA is provided by the William Penn Foundation. Additional support for Bonez is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Learn more at People’s Light.