Is God Is exists because it was the kind of story I needed. I needed its scarred but beautiful twins. I needed its no-holds-barred punk sensibilities. And I needed its refusal to apologize. I could never have imagined that my little play would have found life in theatres all over the world. With this adaptation from stage to screen, I’m grateful for the chance to invite even more audiences to join Racine and Anaia on an epic road trip to their destiny.
It has been a tremendous relief to give Black women’s rage in Is God Is center stage rather than succumbing to the impulse to sidestep the “angry Black woman” stereotype or satisfy the “when-they-go-low-we-go-high” dictates of respectability. To allow the twins and their mother the space for nuanced and justified rage feels like restoring grace to scores of Black women who’ve been pathologized, scorned or ignored for expressing such a basic human emotion.
Alongside (or beneath) that rage is love. The unwavering self-love of a woman who knows she deserves better and will not stop until someone is held accountable. The compassionate love of a woman who holds another’s pain as her own and thus takes up arms to avenge. Something feels radical to me about Black women, who are so often expected to put ourselves last, putting themselves first.
There is no compromising here, no doubt that what Racine, Anaia and their mother have endured is to be taken seriously. But it begs important questions for us all to consider: Should one seek revenge?
This week, the premiere for the film was held by Amazon MGM Studios in New York at BAM!
(Tessa Thompson, Kishori Rajan, Justen Ross, Vivica A. Fox, Kara Young, Aleshea Harris, Mallori Johnson, Erika Alexander, Janelle Monáe, Xavier Mills, Riva Marker and Josiah Cross attend Amazon MGM Studios “Is God Is” New York Premiere at BAM! on Monday, April 27, 2026 in New York City.)
Check Out The UB Extended Previews: “We Ain’t Killers” & “Ready to See God!”
