Reviewed by: Othello: The Moor of Venice, and: Becoming Othello: A Black Girl’s Journey Brandy C. Williams Othello: The Moor of Venice Presented virtually by the Harlem Shakespeare Festival, in partnership with the National Arts Club and Voza Rivers/New Heritage Theatre Group. 21 September 2020. Adapted by Lisa Wolpe. Directed by Vanessa Morosco. Production direction by Norman Anthony Small. Technical production by Nidal Q. Associate production by Jackie Jeffries. Producing artistic direction by Debra Ann Byrd. Associate artistic direction by Dathan B. Williams. With Debra Ann Byrd (Othello), Lisa Wolpe (Iago), Mary E. Hodges (Cassio), Amanda Barron (Roderigo), Jennifer Le Blanc (Desdemona), Amy Driesler (Montano), Natasha Yannacañedo (Emilia), Kim Wuan (Bianca), Aixa Kendrick (Sailor 1), and Anja Lee (Sailor 2/Herald). [End Page 290] Becoming Othello: A Black Girl’s Journey Presented virtually by the Harlem Shakespeare Festival, in partnership with the National Arts Club and Voza Rivers/New Heritage Theatre Group. 14 December 2020. Written by Debra Ann Byrd. Directed by Tina Packer. Movement by Dyane Harvey-Salaam/Forces of Nature Dance. As COVID-19 case numbers in the United States rose exponentially, theaters were forced to shutter their doors and halt production for the foreseeable future. As 2020 continued on and the prominence of Zoom became a daily feature of the “new normal” in the wake of an ongoing global pandemic, theater companies would take to the platform’s offerings as well. At the same time, the United States also saw a reinvigoration of the Black Lives Matter movement in national media, marked by nationwide demonstrations in response to the 25 May murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the hands of local law enforcement. As the protests grew to include seeking justice for other Black people—across gender and class lines—killed at the hands of police, attention shifted from police brutality to anti-Black violence more broadly. Global attention turned to the political movement for the preservation of Black lives, and American consciousness focused more squarely on the subject of anti-Black racism and its pervading every facet of American society and history. In a way, it feels almost intuitive to stage Othello in this present moment; for some, it is the quintessential Black Shakespeare play and, more importantly, it shows the persistent vulnerability of Black subjects. “Valiant Othello,” as the Duke addresses him (1.3.49), is a decorated general who has served the State well, but is still bound by a social order which dictates that, on account of his Blackness, he must be villainous because of his marriage to the white Desdemona. While I do not seek to assert some objective claim about a “universal” reading of Othello, I want to call attention to a common reading of the play through a critical race studies lens. Read through that lens—which I should perhaps note, is the one I hold most firmly—Othello is not about race as much as it is about the insidious nature of anti-Black racism. No matter what time this play is staged, its central tension speaks to historical anti-miscegenation efforts, driven by the anxiety of what an interracial marriage may produce. As Iago frantically attempts to urge Brabantio, he fails: [End Page 291] Zounds, sir, you’re robbed, for shame put on your gown!Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul,Even now, now, very now, an old black ramIs tupping your white ewe! Arise, arise,Awake the snorting citizens with the bellOr else the devil will make a grandsire of you,Arise, I say! (1.1.85–91) It is not Iago’s urgent insistence upon the magnitude of this act, but rather Roderigo’s passive agreement, that convinces Brabantio of the severity of Othello and Desdemona’s union. Othello and Desdemona’s marriage may produce a Black child with white inheritance rights. The Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020 pushed conversations beyond the obvious assertion that racist violence is bad to more critical, nuanced understandings, and drew broad attention to the pervasiveness of racist logics in every fiber of society—including calling for an examination of the ways that various groups participate...