Pass Over

A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Pass Over

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  3m

Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu

A provocative riff on Waiting for Godot, Pass Over is a rare piece of politically charged theater by a bold new American voice.

Image: 2018 Lincoln Center Theater Production (Jeremy Daniel)

Pass Over

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3m
  • Duration
    Duration
    75 Minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Adaptations (Literature)
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Licence details
  • Minimum Fee: £69 per performance plus VAT when applicable.
Pass Over

Details

Summary
Moses and Kitch stand around on the corner – talking shit, passing the time, and hoping that maybe today will be different. As they dream of their promised land, a stranger wanders into their space with his own agenda and derails their plans. Emotional and lyrical, Pass Over crafts everyday profanities into poetic and humorous riffs, exposing the unquestionable human spirit of young men stuck in a cycle just looking for a way out.

A provocative riff on Waiting for Godot, Pass Over is a rare piece of politically charged theater by a bold new American voice.
History
Pass Over opened on Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre on August 22, 2021. Directed by Danya Taymor, the production featured Jon Michael Hill, Namir Smallwood and Gabriel Ebert. The play premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, IL in June 2017, under the direction of Danya Taymor, and made its off-Broadway premiere on Monday, June 18, 2018 at Lincoln Center Theater's Claire Tow Theater.
Cast Attributes
  • Role(s) for Black Actor(s)
  • Reduced casting (Doubling Possible)
Keywords
Performing Groups
  • College Theatre / Student
  • Professional Theatre
  • Shoestring Budget
  • Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups

MOSES – black, male, late teens/early 20s. a young man from the ghetto. brokenhearted. courageous. angry. sad
but also a slave driver
but also the prophesied leader of God’s chosen

KITCH – black, male, late teens/early 20s. a young man from the ghetto and moses’ best friend. jovial. loyal. kind. naïve. a lovely friend to have
but also a slave
but also one of God’s chosen 

MISTER – white, male, late 20s/early 30s. a man in a light-colored suit. out of his element. earnest. wholesome. terrified
but also a plantation owner
but also pharoah’s son 

OSSIFER – white, male, late 20s/early 30s. an enforcer of the law. not from around here, but always aroud. pragmatic. intimidating. also terrified
but also a patroller
but also a soldier in pharoah’s army

  • Time Period Contemporary, Present Day
  • Setting

    now. right now. a ghetto street. a lamppost. night.

  • Features Contemporary Costumes / Street Clothes
  • Additional Features No intermission
  • Duration 75 Minutes
  • Cautions
    • Gun Shots
    • Intense Adult Themes
    • Strong Language

Media

Critic's Pick! “Blazingly theatrical and thrillingly tense.” – Jesse Green, The New York Times

“Potent and promising... the language in the work is thrilling, poetical.” – Chicago Tribune

“Pass Over is a powerfully imaginative drama that will shake up audiences, instantly tagging the playwright as a significant new voice.” – The Hollywood Reporter

“Emotional, sobering... fiercely poetic play.” – Daily Herald

★★★★ “For many Black men, living in a country that was built on slavery and still struggles with ingrained notions of white supremacy feels absurd, dispiriting and paralyzing. Playwright Antoinette Nwandu has devised an ingenious and unsettling way to dramatize that terrifying state of existence... Although much of its repartee is quite funny, Pass Over is a tough show. It’s intended to challenge.” – Time Out New York

ON BREAKING CHARACTER

Scene Study and Classroom Reading: Plays for Colleges and Universities
Becca Schlossberg
August 23, 2019

From the Desk of Licensing: Collegiate Edition
Becca Schlossberg
April 23, 2019

OTHER PRESS

Finding Redemption and Rebirth on the Road to Broadway
Salamishah Tillet, The New York Times
September 23, 2021

‘There’s Still So Much to Unearth’ in ‘Pass Over’
Naveen Kumar, The New York Times
August 4, 2021

Videos

  • What is Pass Over?

  • Pass Over – Steppenwolf Teaser

  • Antoinette Nwandu on Pass Over

  • Pass Over at Steppenwolf – Audience Response

Photos

  • Pass Over

    Image: 2018 Lincoln Center Theater Production (Jeremy Daniel)

  • Pass Over

    Image: 2018 Lincoln Center Theater Production (Jeremy Daniel)

Materials

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FULL SETTING

now. right now. but also 1855. but also 13th century BCE.

a ghetto street. a lamppost. night. but also a plantation. but also Egypt, a city built by slaves.

Scripts

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Authors

Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu

Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu

Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu is a New York-based writer for stage, film, and television. Her play Pass Over made its New York debut at LCT3/Lincoln Center in 2018. A filmed version of the Jeff Award-winning Steppenwolf production—directed by Spike Lee— premiered at the 2018 Sun ...

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