Theater for the New City gives Ill Winds, Garry Batson’s drama about a fading boxer fighting to keep his disabled son, three weekends for its New York premiere, November 28–December 13. Evria Ince Waldron directs.
Al Lander is a former middleweight whose life is coming apart on every front at once: his construction business is going under, he is using drugs, his health is getting worse and his marriage is failing. His teenage son, John, has muscular dystrophy, and Al refuses to send him away to a residential school. His wife, Gladys, who has kept the household running, believes the boy needs specialized care the family cannot give him. Al’s answer is to take John and leave.
Short of money, he goes back to street drugs and back into the ring. Gladys, now separated from him, finds comfort with another man, while John wants what any teenager wants: to walk, to fall in love, to be let into a world that keeps him out. Al’s comeback fight ends in a win that may cost him his life. Batson’s subject is the price of fatherhood in a Black family, and what love and sacrifice amount to when there is no safety net.
The full-length play grew out of a shorter piece, one third of a Batson trilogy. The three plays were staged as Trilogy I at Symphony Space in 2018 and as Trilogy II at the Gene Frankel Theatre in 2023, both directed by Ince Waldron. Reviewing the 2018 evening, the Amsterdam News called it “galvanizing.”
Eugene Daniels, who led all three plays in both trilogies, plays Al. Khalilah Daye is Gladys, Nathan John is John, William Abbott is Fred, Al’s trainer, and Rashaan B. Willerforde is Jean, Gladys’s lover. Nneoma Ogbonna plays the young Gladys. The ensemble also includes Adrian Weekes, Raheem Williams, Jovanny Jacobo, Bradford Hayes Jr. and Rose Joseph.
Batson, a professor of language and literature at Touro College, has had plays staged by the Negro Ensemble Company and the Paul Robeson Theater, among others. Ince Waldron is artistic director of NIA Theatrical Production Co. Ulric O’Flaherty is technical director and designs the set and lighting, with sound by Nick Wilson. Eugene Daniels Productions presents the play in association with Batson Entertainment and Phoenix Arts Inc.
Ill Winds runs November 28–December 13, 2026 at Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue at East 10th Street, and opens on November 28. Performances are Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m.; the running time is 1 hour 30 minutes plus an intermission. General admission is $50, Sunday performances are pay-what-you-can, and TDF tickets are available. Tickets are on sale through Eventbrite.
