BroadwayRadio: Class Notes

Episode: Eisa Davis from “The Essentialisn’t”

Host: Lauren Klass Snyder
Guest: Eisa Davis
Date: September 16, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode of BroadwayRadio’s “Class Notes,” host Lauren Klass Snyder sits down with Eisa Davis—playwright, composer, performer, and star of “The Essentialisn’t,” now playing at The Here Mainstage. The conversation delves into Davis’s provocative new work, which interrogates the obligations placed on Black women to "perform," both on stage and in life. The discussion explores the creative evolution of the show, the heavy-hitting institutions that supported it, Davis’s musical motivations, and her philosophy as an artist and collaborator.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Central Question: “Can you be Black and not perform?”

• [00:17] Eisa Davis discusses the foundational question of her piece:
  • The show asks whether Black individuals, especially women, must always “perform”—and offers a multi-layered response.
  • “The first answer that happens in the piece is no, that you do have to perform. But then the piece itself begins to actually offer ways of not performing on stage that I think we really get to have a lot of fun with.” (Eisa Davis, [00:25])
• The piece is described as both humorous and intimate, blending music, parody, physical theater, and personal storytelling.
• Davis reflects on how performance for Black women is shaped by both joy and constraint—typecasting, systemic stereotypes, and the pressures of representation.

The Show’s Structure and Aesthetics

• [01:40] The show combines Davis’s interests:
  • “It brings together the things that I love the most, which is, you know, music and movement and beautiful, striking aesthetics and performing with wonderful actors and playing piano.”
• As creator, star, and director, Davis says the piece allows her to “have all of the fun” she’s ever experienced in performance, while also interrogating the burdens intertwined with that joy.

Institutional Support and a Decade-Long Journey

• [03:12] The show is supported by a veritable “who’s who” of arts organizations: The Public Theater, Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, Park Avenue Armory, US Artists Fellowship, and Creative Capital Foundation.
• Long Development Timeline:
  • “It first started out as a commission at Symphony Space, and it was much more of a conventional musical, then about a conceptual artist. And then as I began to work on the music more, the world changed. Things in my life changed. … It became a conceptual art piece itself.” (Eisa Davis, [03:33])
  • Davis evolved from writing within “conventional” musical frameworks to exploring more abstract, interactive forms.
• Key Workshop and Installation Milestones:
  • Notable support from Sundance Lab and Performance Space New York.
  • “It’s because of all of those orgs supporting the piece and having trust and faith in me as an artist that we’re able to do this Creative Capital supported premiere.” ([05:36])

The Musical and Conceptual Impulse

• [06:03] Davis’s initial creative drive was rooted in music:
  • “I just wanted to write some really beautiful songs. … And so the impulse really, again, was musical more than anything. And so then I had to justify that music by having the story.”
• Over time, these musical seeds grew into a piece exploring identity, both personal and societal—through “issues around identity… these are things I have long studied.”
• Form and Flexibility:
  • The show is intentionally “fragmented and linked together via theme, via association,” with the potential to keep evolving.
  • “There are all these different ways that the piece could continue to grow. I could take one thing out and add another thing. ... That’s the nature of this piece, is that it. It asks this question, but it’s almost vast and infinite in the sense of what could actually be a case study, you know, a new song or a new kind of scene that. That asks this question again and again in new ways.” ([07:59])

Eisa Davis as Performer in Others’ Works

• [08:46] Lauren cites Davis’s acclaimed roles in “Passing Strange” and “The Secret Life of Bees,” raising the question of how Davis navigates performing work by others.
• Davis’s take:
  • “Because I am a writer … then I just try to do the same for all of the wonderful creators that I work with, whether that is … [on] Secret Life of Bees… or with Passing Strange, ... or [Preludes at Lincoln Center]. What I love to do is to really just stand in the feet of the character and just try and ask the questions that help the character’s journey.” ([09:10])
  • As an experienced playwright, Davis approaches her roles as both actor and dramaturg—always seeking to contribute positively to the room.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Premise of “The Essentialisn’t”:

  • “There are certain levels of typecasting that I’ve had because of how I look, and also just all of the systemic issues for why a particular black woman that looks like me gets asked to behave in a certain way. Those things are constraints on the liberation that can be there when you’re on a stage and when you’re in life.” (Eisa Davis, [02:41])

• On Long-Term Artistic Freedom:

  • “Because of all of that time, because of all of that freedom that all of those organizations gave me to just keep thinking through the questions with resources and the time that you get to have where you are only working on this piece, I was able to get to the point where we are now.” (Eisa Davis, [04:37])

• On Collaborating With Other Visionaries:

  • “I love being able to help other people bring their visions to life. And so I just. I just love that process so very much. And I just try to imagine what kind of collaborator I would want in a room and try to be that.” ([10:25])

Key Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:17–03:10: Davis discusses the core theme of “performance” and its complexities for Black women.
• 03:12–05:43: The show’s prestigious institutional support and development history.
• 06:03–08:46: Musical roots of the show and its evolving narrative form.
• 08:46–10:53: Davis’s philosophy as a collaborator and actor in other creators’ works.

Conclusion

This episode offers a thought-provoking look into Eisa Davis’s artistic process behind “The Essentialisn’t”—a work that threads the tensions of art, identity, liberation, and representation. With candor and critical insight, Davis shares her journey from musical impulse to thematic exploration, highlighting the communal and institutional scaffolding necessary for experimental theater to thrive. Her vision of collaboration and freedom, both as a creator and performer, resounds as a call for honest artistry and transformative support within the creative ecosystem.