This preview performance is only for GCC students, staff, and faculty. Please contact boxoffice@ genesee.edu to reserve your seat for the event. You can also stop by the art gallery to reserve your spot.
Genesee Community College’s Department of Theatre Arts and The Forum Players are presenting LeRoi Jones’ play, Dutchman, this February as part of their 2025-2026 theatrical programming. Dutchman was first presented Off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village, New York City, in March 1964 co-produced by Rita Fredricks. The play was turned into a film in 1967, starring Shirley Knight and Al Freeman Jr. The play will be performed on February 26 & 27 at 7:30pm. There will be a free preview performance available to GCC students, staff, and faculty on Thursday, February 26 at 12:30pm. Seating is limited, please contact boxoffice@genesee.edu or stop by the gallery to reserve your seat for this performance.
Dutchman is an emotionally charged and highly symbolic version of the biblical Adam & Eve story, written by LeRoi Jones, his last piece written under his birth name*. Clay, a young Black man, meets a white woman named Lula, who is as calculating as she is seductive. The emotionally tense, intellectual verbal sparring between Clay and Lula devolves into the symbolic act of violence, that seems doomed to be repeated again and again. Taking place entirely on a NYC subway car, this play evokes imagery both of the mythical Flying Dutchman (the fabled ghost ship which endlessly sails on with a crew unable to escape the confines of the vessel), and the Dutch ships that carried enslaved individuals across the Atlantic Ocean. It is produced with a small cast and staged on a fixed set, which allows the story to take center stage. Dutchman is filled with symbolism and allegory, with a current of deep emotions to carry the viewer through the story. Dutchman is a powerful piece written by a prolific playwright, which forces audiences to confront the realities of race relations in the 1960s, and into modern day.
*LeRoi Jones changed his name to Amiri Baraka in 1965 after the assassination of Malcolm X, which caused Baraka to embrace Black Nationalism. The change reflects Baraka’s embrace of his African roots, and he became a prominent figure in the Black Arts Movement.
Dutchman is being directed by Maryanne Arena, with technical direction and set design by Sandy Nagar.
Tickets are on sale now. Seating is limited and is not assigned. General Admission $10, Seniors 55+/students/GCC staff & faculty $5. Tickets are on sale online at genesee.edu/campus-life/center-for-the-arts/. Contact boxoffice@genesee.edu with any questions or to purchase tickets in person. You can also stop by the Roz Steiner Art Gallery during business hours to purchase tickets. The box office will open 1 hour before showtime. Dutchman is presented through special arrangement with Concord Theatricals.