Tar at Atwater Village Theatre

Los Angeles, 1939. On the night Count Basie is to be one of the first African-American headliners at the Palomar Ballroom, Zenobio Remedios and Amen Headley are stuck at work next door. Attendants at Bimini Baths, they have accepted a delicate after-hours assignment: removing the tar from a drunken Donald Walter, recently fished out of the LaBrea Tar Pits. But as the two men of color work to remove the stain from the white man's skin, they reveal the blot of hatred in his heart. Amen, an aspiring actor, uses his wit and imagination to tease out the shocking story behind Donald's dive into the LaBrea ooze. Deciding what to do with that information leads to a confrontation between Amen and the fearful Zenobio with unexpectedly explosive consequences.