…what the end will be by Mansa Ra

Starring Emerson Brooks, Gerald Lee Caesar, Randy Harrison, Keith Randolph Smith, Ryan Jamaal Swain, and Tiffany Villarin

Scenic Design by Reid Thompson

Costume Design by Emilio Sosa

Lighting Design by Jiyoun Chang

Sound Design and Composition by Palmer Hefferan

Production Stage Manager: Megan Schwarz Dickert

Associate Director: Lamar Perry

All photos taken by Joan Marcus for the Roundabout Theatre Company 2022 production

PRESS:

NYT’S Critic’s Pick

Review: ‘…What the End Will Be’ Review: Learning to Let Go

“…What the End Will Be,” an astute and poignant reflection on sexuality, mortality and Black masculinity… Did I mention it’s also a comedy?”

Bordelon’s staging for Roundabout Theater Company balances the play’s humor with its sobering central conceit.

In “… What the End Will be,” facing death really means reckoning with life — what makes it worth living despite its impermanence — and learning how to seize some measure of joy for yourself. It’s everything that is meant when we say that Black lives matter.

- Naveen Kumar, The New York Times

“Three generations of Black gay men live, for a short while, in one Atlanta McMansion (the set, by Reid Thompson, is perfect) after the ornery but lovable Bart (Keith Randolph Smith), following a terminal bone-cancer diagnosis, moves in with his repressed, corporate-striver son (Emerson Brooks) and sensitive, football-player grandson (Gerald Caesar). Directed by Margot Bordelon, Mansa Ra’s comic drama is formally conventional and openly sentimental, but neither counts as a flaw in a production this impeccably executed. Ra’s vision of affluent Black gay life is lively and engaging, but that’s simply the milieu; this is a play about dying, a theme that’s beautifully supported by the remaining cast, with Tiffany Villarin, Randy Harrison, and Ryan Jamaal Swain.”

- Rollo Roming, The New Yorker

“These days, the New York theater scene is alive with stories honoring the Black experience, as it should be. And this being the Pride month of June, the boards are also awash in stories celebrating LGBTQ lives.

And yet, to label Mansa Ra’s latest play “…what the end will be” a Black play or a queer play would be a disservice. To be sure, the engrossing comic drama is both of these things, but it is much more. Under the razor-sharp direction of Margot Bordelon, the piece throbs with a keen sense of humanity that will deeply resonate for anyone with a pulse. And if you aren’t stifling back tears during the climactic scene, you may wish to have that pulse checked.”

- David Kennerley, Gay City News

“In a play with straight white characters, this set-up (ailing grandparent, old-school dad, rebellious teen wanting to live their best life) would feel at least a little familiar. But Ra puts these tropes in different cultural waters, and the result is fresh and engaging… Ra turns this standoff between generations into 90 minutes of provocative (and hilarious) theater.

Director Margot Bordelon draws terrific performances from the cast.”

- Pete Hempstead, TheaterMania

“Director Margot Bordelon’s polished realization of the ensemble’s characterizations is matched by her smooth physical staging.”

- Darryl Reilly, Theater Scene

“Director Margot Bordelon has succeeded in rendering with clarity and precision the contours and tonal transitions of Ra’s script.”

- Charles Geyer, My Scena

“In addition to the tremendous, flowing performances of the cast, there is the impeccable direction of Margot Bordelon.”

- Linda Armstrong, Harlem News

“The characters are crisply defined, and there is an undeniable pleasure in watching the tensions in this unusual family surge and subside. Under the direction of Margot Bordelon, the actors slip easily into the skins of their characters”

- Charles Isherwood, The Wall Street Journal

“What does it mean to be a gay black male in America today? It’s a question that’s been pondered on many New York stages this past season, in shows ranging from A Strange Loop to Thoughts of a Colored Man to A Case for the Existence of God. Now, playwright Mansa Ra is adding his perspective to the issue in ...what the end will be, which is receiving a well-acted production under Margot Bordelon’s direction at the Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre.”

- Brian Scott Lipton, Theater Pizzazz