Mr Mineshaft - A Play About Julius Eastman

'I think I've suffered enough. I don't think I can suffer anymore.' - Julius Eastman

What do you do when you can't stop falling?

'Mr Mineshaft' explores and exposes the extraordinary life and work of forgotten black composer, Julius Eastman, articulating his pitiful fall from the heights of the American avant grade to the depths of drug addiction, vagrancy, and early death.

Eastman is a lost genius - a virtuoso musician, classical composer, vocalist, dancer, and gay rights activist lost by posterity. At the height of his career he toured across Europe and played with eminent artists like John Cage, Arthur Russell, and Meredith Monk, whilst simultaneously embracing the heady New York gay scene centred around the meat-packing district, sometimes arriving for classical music rehearsals wearing army boots, a military jacket and vest, and holding a bottle of scotch.

However, after his increasing dependence on alcohol and drugs, and his growing frustration with lack of artistic opportunities for black and gay men, his life fell apart.