‘The better question is: why did he write us into a minstrel show?
He could’ve written anything he wanted, and he chose to write this.
You couldn’t give us no quarters in your show? You had to make us struggle n shit?’

Tambo and Bones are two characters in a minstrel show. They soon come to realize that they are, in fact, just two characters in a minstrel show. This realization brings them great distress. They decide that there is only one solution: they must find and kill the source of all their troubles. TAMBO & BONES is a daring theatrical exploration of the intersection of race, capitalism, and performance.

Dave Harris is a poet and playwright from West Philly. He is the Tow Playwright-in-Residence at Roundabout Theatre Company. His play EXCEPTION TO THE RULE will have its world premiere at Roundabout Underground in spring 2020. His plays have been produced or developed by Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival, Roundabout Underground, Manhattan Theater Club, Victory Gardens, The Kennedy Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SPACE on Ryder Farm, The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, and Ojai Playwrights Conference amongst others. Honors include: the 2019 Ollie Award, The Lorraine Hansberry Award and Mark Twain Award from The Kennedy Center, the 2018 Venturous Fellowship from The Lark, Cave Canem poetry fellowship, and a semi-finalist for The Relentless Award amongst others. His first full-length collection of poetry, Patricide, was published in May 2019 from Button Poetry. Dave received his B.A. from Yale University and is a third year MFA playwright at UC San Diego. UPCOMING: INCENDIARY (Goodman Theatre New Stages Festival, Chicago, fall 2019), EXCEPTION TO THE RULE (Roundabout Underground, NYC, spring 2020).

TAMBO & BONES won a Commendation at the 2019 Awards