Charles Grippo

Just as we're about to inaugarate the nation's first African American President, the Goodman Theatre is stirring up a hornet's nest with its new production of Eugene O'Neil's The Emperor Jones.
The reason: the lead is being played by a white actress in blackface.
Once a common theatrical device, still in use as late as the mid 20th Century, blackface has been discredited as shockingly racist.
But in the Goodman's production (actually a product of the Wooster Group) and part of an O'Neill Festival, actress Kate Valk (who is white) plays the title role in blackface, a despotic train conductor whom O'Neill wrote to be played by an African American male. Most of the dialog is stereotypical dialect. Although I haven't seen the production yet, Valk and the show have garnered rave reviews. Director Elizabeth LeCompte argues her take on the admittedly problematic text is intended as a comment on racism and is not exploitative.
According to the Chicago Tribune, now an organization called The Third World Press is calling for a boycott of the show.
But the Goodman claims the run is nearly sold out anyway.
Would you produce "blackface" today? As an actor would you appear in blackface?