“whatdoesfreemean? “
by Catherine Filloux
“whatdoesfreemean?” follows the journey of an African American woman serving a long sentence for a drug offense. Mary ends up in solitary confinement where she struggles to maintain her sanity as she fights off hallucinations who appear as characters. The play takes the audience into her psychic world. We travel alongside her self-guided intellectual and emotional journey into the nature of freedom, both physical and psychological as Mary’s external and internal experience unfolds on stage in the present, in memory and the fantasies that help her survive.
- Cast Size: 3M 3W
- Running Time: 90+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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About the Playwright
CATHERINE FILLOUX is an award-winning French Algerian American playwright and librettist, who has been writing about human rights for decades. Her plays and operas have been produced nationally and internationally. In New York City, Filloux’s new musical “Welcome to the Big Dipper” (composer Jimmy Roberts) premiered Off-Broadway at the York Theatre, and her play “How to Eat an Orange” premiered at La MaMa Downstairs Theatre. Catherine’s new play “White Savior” was nominated for The Venturous Play List. Filloux’s other recent plays include: “turning your body into a compass” her livestream web drama at CultureHub, NYC; “whatdoesfreemean?” at Nora’s Playhouse, NYC; “Kidnap Road”, La MaMa, NYC; “Selma ‘65”, NYC and U.S. tour; “Luz”, La MaMa and Looking for Lilith in Louisville, KY. Catherine is the librettist for four produced operas: “Orlando” (composer Olga Neuwirth) is the first opera at the Vienna State Opera by a woman composer-librettist team (2022 Grawemeyer Award); “Where Elephants Weep” (Chenla Theatre, Cambodia, composer Him Sophy) broadcast on Cambodian national TV and Broadway on Demand. Filloux has traveled for her plays to conflict areas including Bosnia, Cambodia, Guatemala, Haiti, Iraq, Morocco; and to Sudan and South Sudan on an overseas reading tour with the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program. Catherine received her French Baccalaureate in Philosophy with Honors in Toulon, France. She has spoken for media and organizations around the world. www.catherinefilloux.com
“ANGER IS ALL I HAVE. THEY GONNA TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME TOO?” Is what the imprisoned Mary hurls at her lawyer, Nick, when prompted to take an anger management course. That anger is ubiquitous in “Whatdoesfreemean?” as it follows Mary’s time in prison after a drug charge and her efforts at rehabilitation. During their time with Mary, the audience will be privy to the devastation of injustice and indifference in the hostile, violent environment that is prison. Mary steps off track from her rehabilitation after her friend Ann’s illness is shunned and mocked until her death came as a consequence of negligence. The story then takes Mary to solitary confinement, where her mental stability deteriorates, and the audience is taken on a rollercoaster of hallucination, loneliness, hopelessness, and anger.
“Whatdoesfreemean?” presents the inhumane state of unjust incarceration in America. The U.S. prison system has long targeted the black community, though this tends to be purposefully ignored and forgotten. This play doesn’t lay it on softly, it forces you to understand that this was the past and it continues to be the present— it forces the audience to sit with the uncomfortability of it all. The shifts between real narrative and dreamy stupors can feel jarring, but it comes off as intentional, mirroring Mary’s deteriorating mental state and the absurdity of the indifference to the injustice.
This play is necessary. It will make the audience wonder what it means to be free in a country where justice is selective. A country in which a nonviolent crime can warrant a lifetime of punishment for people of color. “Whatdoesfreemean?” is a necessary political imposition, it will make you just as angry as Mary, you will feel just as resigned. It will make the audience think of those locked away and forgotten, the reality America is uncomfortable with.
Review what does free mean.