Niceties at Geffen Playhouse

If there's anything the last few years have shown us, it's that race is still an issue in America. And how couldn't it be, given our history? But we're only just now starting to face how deeply rooted and tangled the issue is for all of us. Pointing the way are brave, finger-on-the-pulse works like The Niceties. This intimate, tense drama finds a black student and a white professor — both brilliant, both liberal — meeting to discuss a paper about slavery's role in the American Revolution. But as the polite chat delves deeper, it grows increasingly fraught, building to a climax that will change both women forever. Don't miss this "barnburner of a play" (The Washington Post) at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. You must be age 12 or older to attend.