Prince George's pastor finds inventive black history play - washingtonpost.com

Bruce McClure, pastor of Prince George's Church of Christ, said he didn't want to greenlight a so-called chitlin-circuit play for his church. When congregant Brenda Simon proposed featuring "1,001 Black Inventions" for Black History Month in 2002, McClure had to see it himself before making a decision.

"Truthfully, I thought it was going to be one of those productions where everyone and everything is predictable, but it was nothing like that," he said. "I just came with a closed attitude, but from start to finish, it was mesmerizing."

The play, performed by Southeast Washington-based Pin Points Theatre, will be staged at the church for the third time since 2002. The performance highlights inventions by African Americans and showcases what would happen to a typical American family if it had to live in a world without contributions from African and African American inventors.