‘An American Ma(u)l’: in which slavery returns to the U.S.

America is in a recession and at war. A new kind of cotton is cultivated, bringing economic hope to the United States. The president decides the best way to create labor for this lucrative new market is to repeal the Fourteenth Amendment and reinstate slavery.\nIn the satirical play “An American Ma(u)l,” opening at 7:30 Friday at the Wells-Metz Theatre, playwright Robert O’Hara examines the issues of race that still exist in the United States and the power of words. \nO’Hara, a playwright and director, recently held a talk about art and politics as part of ArtsWeek. During the event, “Silence and Explosion: A Salon Event on Politics and the Arts,” O’Hara discussed the state of race relations in the United States. \nDirector Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe has directed productions in venues from Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, R.I., to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. She founded a company, the Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience, and is an associate of the Medea Project: Theatre for Incarcerated Women. Cooper-Anifowoshe recently received a New Frontiers Fellowship to create a black play lab and symposium at IU \nthis summer.