by Mimi Pinson

Not many know the term that Wayne Harris chose for the title of his latest solo show: “Drapetomania,” now extended to November 22, at The Marsh, Berkeley. But leaving the theater after the 75-minute performance, the word becomes hard to forget.

Harris’ performance shows us the power of liberation, traveling from Oakland to Palestine to shake off the paralysis of a so-called ‘disease’—or tool of oppression.

Drapetomania was coined by a 19th-century American physician from the South, Samuel A. Cartwright, naming it a mental illness that made Black people try to escape enslavement. Cartwright insists —that a Black person who wants to be free must be insane! Although his idea is ridiculous, its history demonstrates the rigid, pernicious racial assumptions that have undergirded American healthcare and government for centuries. Drapetomania is still with us.

Harris draws upon the concept of “drapetomania” throughout the play. At times, he explains it in Cartwright’s words, affecting a Southern drawl from behind a podium.

But just as effectively, Harris flips the prescribing lens of Cartwright’s “discovery.” The supposed symptoms of drapetomania—being sulky and dissatisfied, with an uncontrollable urge to flee or fight against unjust conditions—are instead used to give voice to the denial of humanity to oppressed peoples. And Harris sets no limits on how far the label can go: We are afflicted with it as we live through ICE raids, police violence, and a felon president.

Harris takes us on a whirlwind tour of echoing histories: The Civil Rights Movements, the occupied West Bank in 2012, and the contemporary student marching band scene (which, Harris notes, is surprisingly queer friendly) all factor into Harris’ study on drapetomania.

Although disparate story-lines meander at points, Harris’ witty storytelling maintains momentum despite a not-always-obvious through-line. He finds the comedy in everyday life, wringing humor from characters like a smarmy Baptist preacher, through which Harris delivers a bombastic sermon and recounts his relationship with faith.

From his own life, he lovingly depicts a former student Mara, a flag twirler from Atlanta. Even when Harris feels despondent facing America’s descent into fascism, he remains steadfast for Mara, whose transgender identity makes them a MAGA target.

His stay in the Middle East also emphasizes earnest human connection, and the material was no doubt included in response to the two-year Israel–Hamas war, deemed a genocide by the United Nations. Eleven years before that eruption, Harris led a theater workshop for high schoolers in Ramallah. The students felt a connection to his material on Dr. Martin Luther King, and Harris saw them for what they were—just kids.

“Drapetomania” not only asks, “What are you going to do?”—but “Who are you doing it for?” Despite regretting years spent as a “couch activist,” Harris values the act of simply bearing witness.

Witnessing means another person is being seen: Maybe a Palestinian student hears their own struggle in “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

Or maybe it’s any person called “crazy” for running toward freedom.

“Drapetomania”–written and performed by Wayne Harris, directed by David Ford, at The Marsh, Berkeley.

Info: themarsh.org– to May 22, 2026.

Cast: Wayne Harris (in many roles).