After a successful run of The Young and the Rest of Us at The Group Rep Theatre in North Hollywood, I knew the next play had to go somewhere bolder, darker, and more dangerous. That play is Mandingo.
The Young and the Rest of Us was a satirical dark comedy — a murder mystery set behind the scenes of a daytime soap opera. It was sharp, funny, and deeply human. Audiences loved it. Critics praised it. And when the run ended, I found myself asking: what's the story that only I can tell? What's the play that makes people uncomfortable in the best possible way?
The answer was Mandingo.
A Title Burdened with Decades of Cultural Baggage
Darkly comic, suspenseful, and provocatively charged, Mandingo weaponizes a title burdened with decades of cultural baggage to examine America's enduring obsession with race, power, and storytelling in a world where everyone is desperate for a hit.
The word "Mandingo" carries weight. It carries history. It carries pain, mythology, fetishization, and fear — all wrapped up in a single word that Hollywood has exploited and audiences have consumed without fully reckoning with what it means. That's exactly why I chose it. Because the best plays don't let you look away.
Race, Power, and the Desperate Need for a Hit
At its core, Mandingo is about what people are willing to do — and who they're willing to sacrifice — when they need a hit. It's set in the world of entertainment, where the currency is attention and the cost is often someone else's dignity. The play asks: who gets to tell these stories? Who profits from them? And what happens when the story fights back?
Every hit show begins with a great script. Some are worth killing for.
What Comes Next
I'm deep in development on Mandingo now. The script is alive, the themes are urgent, and the story demands to be told. After the reception that The Young and the Rest of Us received, I feel more confident than ever that audiences are ready for something that challenges them — something that makes them laugh, then makes them think, then makes them question everything they thought they knew.
Stay tuned. Mandingo is coming.
"Every hit show begins with a great script. Some are worth killing for."
— Mandingo, by Tamir Yardenne
— Tamir Yardenne