"Criminals are never very amusing. It's because they're failures. Those who make real money aren't counted as criminals. This is a class distinction, not an ethical problem."

– Orson Welles (1915–1985), Mr. Arkadin (1955)

Clinton's play has gotten some impressive reactions. Here's one:

Am I Black Enough, Yet? Written by Clinton Johnston Directed by George Grant Produced by Charter Theater with the Hamner Theatre Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson This creative script tackles sensitive, poignant, hilarious even bizarre issues involving race and race relations. A cast of five lightening quick actors pop into a variety of roles, improv style, and rip roar through scenes that will induce chuckles, bursts of laughter, stunned silence, or even painful acknowledgment of the fractured life scenes depicted on stage. Written in George C. Wolfe’s Colored Museum type of humor and style, a kind of Wolfe-lite, Am I Black Enough, Yet? has just enough bite to make a point without puncturing, posturing, or preaching.

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I recently quoted from an old movie review by my playwright friend, Clinton Johnston — CJ to some of us. The first time I mentioned that review was in October 2004, at which time I described CJ as "the soon-to-be-published playwright." Well, the play that was then soon to be be published is now headed for the stage, specificially Washington, DC's (OK, Arlington, VA's) Charter Theatre :

Am I Black Enough Yet? by Clinton Johnston directed by George Grant featuring Paige Hernandez, Brittney Sweeney, David Lamont Wilson, Edward Daniels, and Matthew Eisenberg "Can you feel it? Can you see it? When do you wanna be it and when break free of it? And after all, what is it? Where does it start ... and where does it end?" No matter who you are or where you're from, for one night at Charter Theatre, you get to be African American. Playwright Clinton Johnston takes you on a touching, thoughtful, and hysterically funny tour of the state of Blackness in America. Don't miss it. at Theatre on the Run [directions] April 11 - May 3, 2008. Thurs - Sat nights at 8:00 p.m. Sat. and Sun. matinees at 3:00 p.m. $25 on Fri and Sat. nights $20 all other performances Special $10 Previews: April 9 and 10 at 8:00 p.m.

Maybe everyone already knows this story, but I just learned it.

In 1573, Italian painter Paolo Veronese was commissioned to paint a Last Supper for the convent of San Giovanni e Paolo to replace an earlier work by Titian destroyed in the fire of 1571.

Here is the painting he turned in, one of the largest canvases of the 16th century:

Notice that Christ and His Apostles seem to be dining in Venice, surrounded by marble columns and stone archways. Notice also that there are many more people in attendance than the one Redeemer and his dozen disciples: we have dogs, midgets, black African servants, and a score of drunken revelers. I don't know the period well enough to spot the other offending presence in the painting: German soldiers.

On July 18, 1573, Veronese was called before the Holy Tribunal of the Inquisition. Asked if he guessed why he had been summoned, he replied that he believed it was because he ought to have painted the Magdalene instead of a dog. Indeed. Neither were the Inquisitors happy with the site of "buffoons, drunkards, Germans, dwarfs, and the like fooleries" at the Lord's last meal.

They demanded that Veronese change the painting.

Instead he renamed it "Banquet in the House of Levi."

I wonder how much Monty Python had this story in mind when they wrote "The Penultimate Supper":