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César Alvarez’s The Potluck Premieres at Playwrights Horizons

The autobiographical musical stages the 1979 Greensboro massacre through experimental forms to force reckonings about state failure, legal failure, family trauma.

Overview

  • Critics published early reviews on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, after the world-premiere run opened at Playwrights Horizons in a production by Soho Rep and INTAR directed by Sarah Benson.
  • The show frames the Nov. 3, 1979 Greensboro killings — when KKK and American Nazi Party members ambushed an anti-Klan rally and five activists were killed — through Alvarez’s family story and personal doubts about telling that history.
  • Staging mixes documentary footage, an optional lobby memorial ritual, metafictional authorial asides, a staged séance and onstage ghosts who perform a centerpiece number called 'The Ballad of the Greensboro 5,' with Anthony Alfaro starring as César.
  • Reviewers call the piece formally adventurous but tonally uneven, noting a loose structure and frequent shifts while praising specific sequences, Alvarez’s eclectic songs and powerful performances in key moments.
  • The production runs through early August 2026 and is likely to broaden public attention to the Greensboro case by pairing archival evidence of alleged police absence and acquittals with a personal exploration of intergenerational trauma.