can i touch it?
By Francisca Da Silveira

Shay is many things - a business owner, a single mom, a community leader - but there’s one thing she’s definitely not: a pawn in United Bank’s efforts to buy up foreclosed real estate in the heart of Boston’s black community. At risk of losing her own store to the bank, she is forced to choose between a personal fight for her family’s livelihood and a moral fight against gentrification. When pushed to her limits, Shay finds herself in the fantastical peaceful place where women of color have to recede into when they get asked stupid ass questions. Using devices like double casting through onstage wig changes, can i touch it? examines themes of black hair politics, social exclusion and the racial inequity black owned businesses face every day.