In 2012, a single photograph, the gentrification of Washington, D.C., and the passing of a Black cultural icon worked together to inspire actor, director and playwright Gavin Dillon Lawrence to begin writing a new play. After a decade of careful writing and revision, that play, The Death of Chuck Brown, premiered at American Players Theatre on June 24.

The Death of Chuck Brown, also directed by Lawrence, explores themes of family relationships, community safe spaces, Black history and gentrification’s impacts on historically Black neighborhoods. The play centers around the relationship between a father, Kofi, and his son, Prince, as Kofi contemplates selling his barbershop in a rapidly changing neighborhood in the nation’s capital city. Kofi and Prince’s story unfolds against the backdrop of the passing of Chuck Brown, a real-life, beloved Washington, D.C., musical and cultural figure.

For Lawrence, the journey to creating The Death of Chuck Brown began with an image of his son sitting in a barber’s chair. Intrigued by the startled look on his son’s face, Lawrence says he asked himself, “If I were to write a story about this, just based on this picture, and I didn’t know the person, what would it be?”

That question led Lawrence to explore a narrative rooted in African American father-son relationships — a subject he feels is often misunderstood and misrepresented.

“For decades, there has been a misconception that Black fathers are not present. When I started writing, I was mostly interested in redefining that narrative and how we are perceived by ourselves, not necessarily the rest of the world,” says Lawrence.

Around the same time, Lawrence saw how new development and rising property values were forcing Black residents out of D.C., once called the “Chocolate City” because of its historical Black majority.

“People come in, they buy up all these buildings, gut them and refurbish them, and then property taxes go up and everything becomes too expensive for the people who were originally there,” says Lawrence, who graduated from Howard University in D.C. “I would love for audiences to realize the kind of impact it has on real people, on human beings, on the kind of journey that Black people have had in this country.”

Lawrence connected those themes to the death of Chuck Brown, the “Godfather of Go-Go” and a Washington, D.C., music legend, in 2021. Go-go music, a subgenre of funk that combines West African, Latin and Black rhythms, has come to define D.C.’s music and social culture since the 1970s. Today, Chuck Brown’s legacy lives on as go-go music is still regularly played on the city’s street corners and in homes, and has ties to anti-gentrification movements such as #DontMuteDC.

“I found it interesting that [Chuck Brown’s] passing seemed to happen around the same time when a lot of gentrification was taking place in the Washington, D.C., area,” says Lawrence. “All of these things, converging in my head at once, started affecting how the story unfolded. It felt like a story that I needed to tell, and a story that I wanted to tell.”

Though dedicated to amplifying Black narratives, Lawrence says The Death of Chuck Brown is a play that anybody can appreciate.

“Even though this story is very specific to a particular culture, most people can relate to the love between a father and his son, and the struggle to keep that son safe and healthy,” says Lawrence. “Family is a universal concept.”

He adds, “The more specific you are in telling a story, even though it may not be about the audience’s ‘culture,’ the more honest it is, and the more universal it can become. People find connections to stories that are true. Because at the end of the day, it’s all about human connection. I think we are all looking for that.”

Lawrence, who’s written several other plays (Cut Flowers and Bye Bye, Margarita) and film scripts, says he is grateful to be premiering The Death of Chuck Brown at American Players Theatre.

“American Players Theatre gives every artist the support they need, whatever it may be, to do their best work,” says Lawrence. “It’s one of the best classical theaters in the country. The quality of work here is ridiculously amazing and satisfying, and I think if people come, they will come again.” 

The Death of Chuck Brown will be playing in the Touchstone Theatre at American Players Theatre through Sept. 25.