Being a public driver has never been an easy way to make a living. But with the demise of the traditional taxi industry, the job has gotten even harder. Throw in systemic racism, classism, then top it off with COVID-19, and it’s a wonder there’s anyone left willing to risk driving strangers anywhere, anytime. Yet, this is precisely the setting of Reginald Edmund’s Ride Share, a solo play that grew out of Edmund’s own experiences driving. (Edmund originally began sharing his stories as a driver on his Facebook page.)

REGINALD EDMUND: I had pictured it as a hybrid. Something that sat in between the world of theater and film. I had originally conceptualized it as something audiences would experience through Zoom. I wrote it right at the cusp of COVID, during the time of the pandemic when theaters had completely closed shop and were leaving a large number of artists, especially those that were POC, out of work, and wondering where their next check was coming from. So I decided that I was going to use this moment through my organization Black Lives, Black Words as a means to provide artists of color a way to create meaningful socially relevant work that audiences can easily access. We created The Plays for the People online season, which provided artists of color with artistic employment opportunities and a way to have a creative outlet. It was only at the coaxing of my wife and cofounder of Black Lives, Black Words that I decided to place my own writing into the season. Normally, I feel bad putting my own work out before anyone else’s. But I think I needed that moment to put this narrative out.

You mentioned Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver in the play. He’s sort of the patron saint/sinner for any public driver, but were there other movies/books/plays that were a touchstone?

Right after I left doing the ride-share hustle, my wife and I went on a road trip from Illinois to Louisiana and then to my hometown in Texas. That was the first time I felt truly free driving in I don’t even know how long. Now my wife and I will go on road trips and explore the city, and outside of traffic, I have found the joy in driving that I used to have before I started doing ridesharing.

6/23-7/25: available on demand anytime with purchase, 847-242-6000 or writerstheatre.org, Solo $40, Duo $65, Trio $85, Ensemble (4+), $100.