Richard Vetere's play Black & White City Blues is the story of a young junkie struggling to survive his addiction to heroin in the decaying landscape of Williamsburg, Brooklyn in the summer of 1971.

Content Warning: This play portrays violent scenes, intimate scenes, drug use & paraphernalia.

Full Synopsis: Black & White City Blues follows the journey of Little Guy. A junkie all his adult life - his younger brother John John dies from a leap off a roof top when they were both getting high, Little Guy can no longer live with the guilt. Pushed to do a deal with his middle-class supplier, Bobby, with the neighborhood drug dealer, Piranha, Little Guy puts a hit on himself as punishment. The only thing keeping him alive, and the only reason he continues to battle with his addiction, is his love for his prostitute girlfriend Delilah and his drug counselor Mister Wellman. The decaying and decadent world of 1971Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is the setting for the heroin fueled world of hallucination and despair as Little Guy struggles to survive his loneliness and his addiction.

RAVE REVIEWS from the Jan 2025 run:  TheatreScene. ArtsIndependent.  Words4Music

MAY 2025 CAST:

LITTLE GUY…Joseph Monseur

JOHN JOHN…Sam Cruz

BOBBY…Jake Minter 

DELILAH…Amber Brookes

WELLMAN…Kevin Leonard 

PIRANHA…Riyadh Rollins 

BERNICE…Gary E. Vincent 

DET. LUCY CORTEZ…Anita Moreno 

BURKE JEFFRIES…Jake Smith

CREATIVE

Richard Vetere - Playwright

Amber Brookes - Director 

Dustin Pazar - Assistant Director 

Jonathan Beebe - Stage Manager 

Paul Maurizio - Production Assistant 

Quinn Nguyen - Costumes 

Niko Stycos - Photography & Videography 

American Theatre of Actors, Inc. (ATA) was founded in 1976 by James Jennings to promote the development of new playwrights, directors and actors, and to provide them a creative atmosphere in which to work. The plays are dramas, comedies, and hybrids, dealing with the social and ethical problems of contemporary society.

12,000 actors have worked at ATA including Dennis Quaid, Bruce Willis, Dan Lauria, Chazz Palminteri, Danny Aielo, David Morse, Edie Falco and Kathryn Hahn. Our productions are sometimes grouped as 'festivals,' such as a Playwrights Festival or a Directors Festival. In 2016 we began an initiative to feature women in theatre as directors and playwrights, today this is our WIT! (Women in Theatre) program.

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