furlough

‘Furlough’s Paradise’ imagines utopia for two Black cousins on a quest for liberty

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Playwright a.k. payne, who studied under Geffen Playhouse Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney at Yale, chooses not to capitalize their name. They (note the choice of pronoun) don’t wish to have their identity determined by suspect structures. This biographical information is pertinent to payne’s “Furlough’s Paradise,” which won the 2025 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and … Read more

The freedoms of a.k. payne’s award-winning abolition play ‘Furlough’s Paradise,’ onstage and off

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Playwright a.k. payne, photographed at the Geffen Playhouse, where “Furlough’s Paradise” is running through May 18. (Marcus Ubungen / For the Times) Among the notes included in the “Furlough’s Paradise” script is an etymology of the word “furlough” — as in, “permission, liberty granted to do something.” Its various definitions throughout the history of language … Read more