The Niceties tickets

In this thought-provoking drama, Zoe, a Black student at an elite liberal arts college, and Janine, her renowned history professor, who is White, meet in Janine’s office to discuss Zoe’s paper. The premise of her paper is that the American Revolution would not have succeeded if not for the existence of slavery.

What begins as a polite clash in perspectives explodes into an urgent debate about race, history, and power. The play becomes a microcosm of the famous world rebellions they study in class. Janine preaches that moderate revolutions, though they leave many injustices unaddressed, are much more likely to succeed than radical revolutions. To Zoe, incremental improvements are no longer enough; a radical revolution is the only way to effect real change.

Eleanor Burgess's play was originally developed at the Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, in 2017. Peter Marks wrote that it “one of the best plays I’ve seen about who gets to tell the story of America, and how.” When The Niceties had its world premiere at Huntington Theatre Company, the Boston Globe wrote “Burgess generates a verbal whirlwind with a words-per-minute velocity that rivals Aaron Sorkin.”

Perisphere Theater's Helen Hayes-recommended production, directed by Kevin O'Connell and starring Sue Struve and Hannah Taylor, is at the Silver Spring Black Box Theatre through March 23.