During the pandemic I freelanced for a nonprofit that mandated DEI training, including for full-time freelancers. There, I was introduced to the concept of microaggressions, where white people, consciously or not, behave in small but perceptible discriminatory ways toward their employees or colleagues of color. But this training didn’t address more blatant forms of inequitable treatment. Playwright Natasha Cobb steps forward to address one of these in The Mule, part of the Secret Theatre’s Queens Short Play Festival.
Getting off the Mule Train?
The forceful little two-hander centers a phenomenon that many who have worked in corporate America may have witnessed without registering it: a Black female employee who stays with a company for many years filling the role of “the person you use,” as the play puts it, “to give the work you don’t want to give to more important people.”
Through Cobb’s sharp writing and a lead performance of depth and vivid realism by Enette Fremont, The Mule builds an urgent microcosm. Tish (Fremont) arrives at a cabin in the woods (no, it’s not a horror story!) for a weekend with her friend (a smooth turn by Ahmed Mohamed). She can use the break, as she is struggling with frustration at work where she has been passed over for advancement, yet is reluctant to quit because it’s still the best job she’s ever had. Her friend, also a person of color but with a successful consulting career, may have an ulterior motive for the weekend besides helping his friend chill out. Cobb engineers an impressive amount of development into this single scene, and Fremont is outstanding.
Diamonds and Divas
The Mule occupied the center position in a lineup of seven short plays. A couple of the others were also worthy of note. Niveka Hoacichan’s Bittersweet is an intense and well-played character study featuring the playwright as a self-destructive, um, playwright, and Isabella Huyler as their actress girlfriend. William Zolla contributes Fielder’s Choice, about a baseball star (a strong David Echols) nursing an agonizing secret. And Let’s Be Garland Accurate by Riley Barriger is a bright flash of comedy and music as two sometime performing partners act out the fantasy of being the reincarnations of Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand. Streisand’s still alive, you say? No matter; since she has stopped singing, her “energy” has to pass on to someone else.
Overall I was impressed by the quality of these short plays, and of the no-budget productions. Short-play festivals can be tedious mixed bags to sit through. This particular program (just one of seven) stood out in my experience. The Queens Short Play Festival runs through November 9, 2025. Tickets and schedule are available at the Secret Theatre website. Meanwhile, there’s more by Natasha Cobb on stage right now in Brooklyn.