“Clyde's" Visits The Vortex: Nottage’s Play Reps Power of Theater for All
Learn more about The Vortex Theatre's 2025 production of Lynn Nottage's "Clyde's" in this UpLift Chronicles interview with play director Marya Errin Jones.
By Shannon Yvonne Moreau
Back in the day, Broadway’s nickname was the Great White Way. It came from the sight of all the billboards and marquees lit up at night. Nowadays, it’s tempting to give that moniker some side-eye.
The theatre isn’t famous for inclusivity. Black playwright Lynn Nottage, despite many accolades, didn’t debut on Broadway until 2017. Her play Clyde’s, directed by local creative Marya Errin Jones, comes to The Vortex Theatre in Albuquerque May 16 - June 8, and you’ll get the opportunity to see it for free.
We Have Always Been in Theater
All-Black shows have been on Broadway since 1898, yet early productions might be dismissed today for pandering to harmful racial stereotypes of minstrelsy. The resourcefulness, determination, and creativity that went into these successes can’t be ignored, especially given racist systems of those times that are still felt today.
Nottage came up in a theater world inaccessible for Black creators. In a 2020 podcast interview, she said, “We had to create work that was inventive and flexible in spaces that weren't necessarily designed for theater.”
Director Jones, who just earned her MFA in Dramatic Writing from the University of New Mexico and is working on her Ph.D., got creative when pitching Clyde’s to a small budget community theater: “The setting is a rundown truck stop. Mixmatched utensils and tables and stuff like that. … It's another metaphor for the patchwork of this country and its people. That was essentially my pitch. We take broken things and we fix them. They don't just get chucked out into the bin.”
Why Theater Matters: Centering Marginalized Voices
“I want to put the people I know center stage,” Nottage said in her essay in Well-Read Black Girl. “My mother, my grandmother, my friends—all the people I loved. Because for so long, people who looked like us remained in the margins.”
This aligns with one of the reasons Jones chose to direct Clyde’s. “Because of the characters, I think it's possible to bring folks into the theater who have traditionally been uninvited.”
“That’s why I think theater is so important,” said Nottage in the conclusion of her essay. “We can shape our own mythology and be the vanguards of change.”
Get Your Tickets for a Powerful Evening: Clyde’s at The Vortex Theatre
Free Showing with Special Panel Discussion—Reserve Your Spot Today!
Join NMBLC for a special showing of Clyde’s, followed by a panel discussion by RSVPing here for FREE tickets.
Sunday, May 25, 2pm
The Vortex Theatre
2900 Carlisle Blvd NE
Albuquerque, NM 87110
Clyde’s, written by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, takes place in a truck stop frequented by truckers making the long journey across Pennsylvania. The kitchen is staffed exclusively by formerly incarcerated individuals looking for their shot at redemption. Even as the shop’s menacing owner, Clyde, tries to keep them under her thumb, Montrellous, Leticia, Rafael and Jason find purpose and give themselves permission to dream through the shared quest to create the perfect sandwich.
Directed by Marya Errin Jones
Runs May 16 - June 8