When Tribes Ruled the Streets

Theatre Development Fund – TDF: Seth Zvi Rosenfeld's vividly remembers the 1976 rampage in Washington Square Park that inspired his new drama Downtown Race Riot, currently running at Off-Broadway's Pershing Square Signature Center. "I was 14 and had a lot of friends who went to school downtown," says the playwright who was raised on the Upper West Side. "There had been problems with some black guys in Washington Square Park selling bad drugs, so a bunch of people went to beat up anyone who was black or Spanish. I knew some of the kids who were peripherally involved. Years later I woke up one day thinking about it and about the idea of tribalism. To me, the play is about the cost of being part of a tribe."