Gentrification, Domino Players, And Murals: A New Play Comes To Bushwick

BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN — The corner where sidewalk domino players clash with mural-painting hipsters is the setting of a new play that tackles Bushwick's favorite problem: gentrification.

“Bamboo in Bushwick” explores the search for a true sense of community among the neighborhood's street vendors, activists, mural-painters and domino players, and ponders the reality that Bushwick's improved standard of living has come at a cost of pushing many longtime residents elsewhere, playwright Ed Cardona Jr. told Patch.

“It’s gentrification in hyper-speed,” Cardona said of the neighborhood. “It's the struggle of the raising of the rents and the landlords forcing people out.”

The play, directed by Ana Margineanu, centers on a group of men who have long played dominos on a street corner where a new mural is being painted. In this surreal take of the neighborhood, the murals come to life to connect the world of old Bushwick with the new.

Cardona chose to incorporate murals into the play because they seem to represent a wave of gentrification that has landed on Jefferson Avenue and is edging its way toward Knickerbocker, he said.

“The murals, as you start walking toward Knickerbocker, go away and you see that old-school graffiti,” said Cardona. “It was kind of strange to visually see the change — where the wave hasn’t hit.”

As Cardona spoke with local residents and explored Bushwick’s increasingly colorful streets, he discovered that while almost everyone was worried about gentrification, few identify themselves as perpetrators: the artists who moved in 10 years ago feel like they're among the established residents being squeezed out, and the newer residents believe gentrification had happened before they moved in.

The playwright added that the remaining Bushwick residents who remember the riots and the crack epidemic of the 1980s are angry about losing their homes and their neighbors, but are gratified that they can sit in their parks and not worry for their safety.

What surprised Cardona most was that even though the area continues to gentrify at rapid speed, the character most identified with Bushwick is not its hipsters, but rather its laborers and domino players.

“The hard-working, blue-collar culture continues,” said Cardona.

And the domino player?

“He’s still hanging out.”

Performances of The Working Theater project are scheduled for 7 p.m., April 13 and April 14 at the Ridgewood Bushwick Youth Center. Tickets cost $25 and are available on the company’s website.

Image via The Working Theater