HARRISON DAVID RIVERS | PLAYWRIGHT

RUBY
“CAUSE CHANGE
DON’T NOTHING CHANGE
UNLESS WE CHANGE
UNLESS WE ENDURE
NO, MORE THAN ENDURE
WE’VE GOT TO GET BACK ON THE BUS
WE MUST GET BACK ON THE BUS
WE MUST
WE MUST…”

WE SHALL SOMEDAY (formerly BROADBEND, ARKANSAS)
1W, 2M

An African-American family grapples with decades of inequality, violence, and suppression in the South.  

Productions

Production, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Montgomery, AL, 2025: dirs. Ryan Dobrin and Tyler Thomas

Production, Missouri University of Science & Technology, Rolla, MO, 2023: dir. Tiélere Cheatem

Production, Theater Latté Da, Minneapolis, MN, 2023: dir. Kelli Foster Warder

Concert, Joe’s Pub, NYC, 2023: dir. Ryan Dobrin

Concert, Signature Theatre, Arlington, VA, 2022: dir. Kelli Foster Warder

Production, The Studio Theatre Tierra Del Sol, The Villages, FL, 2021: dir. Toma Tavares Langston

World Premiere, Transport Group in association with the Public Theater, NYC, 2019: dir. Jack Cummings III

Awards

*Antonyo Award Nominations for Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score (Ted Shen) and Best Actor in a Musical Off-Broadway (Danyel Fulton)

Press

“Emotionally gripping”
--Suzanna Bowling, Time Square Chronicles

 “Stunning.”
--David Finkle, New York Stage Review
★★★★

 “Beautifully realized.” 
--Michael Dale, Broadway World

 “A remarkable new work… theatergoers are rarely treated to this kind of dramatically riveting musical experience.”
--Simon Saltzman, CurtainUp

“One of the sleeper hits of the season… Filled with both optimism and a brooding lack of reparation for our collective inability to address the disparities facing marginalized communities, its intimacy is its greatest strength. It’s also a reminder that theater’s power need not rely on extravagant flourishes but can be found here within two exceptional performances.”
--Matthew Wexler, The Broadway Blog

“Engagingly emotional… A delicately entwined historical journey… It’s impossible not to get swept up in the movement and the lovingly personal engagements.”
--Ross, front mezz junkies

 “Rivers’s Ruby, the show’s second act, is a gripping meditation on identity and parenthood, gloriously performed by Danyel Fulton as the eponymous mother, whose son has just been viciously beaten by the police.”
--Dan Rubins, Slant

 “A new, intimate Off-Broadway musical with big scope. Focusing on just two members of an African-American family, it crystallises the humiliations, pain and violence of the enduring whirlwind of racism in 20th century America.”
--Musical Theatre Review
★ ★ ★ ★ ✩