Tricycle puts black writers centre stage

The series of plays is to be held at the ground-breaking Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn, which previously ran a drama about the inquiry into the racist killing of Stephen Lawrence.

Three leading black writers — Kwame Kwei-Armah, Roy Williams and rising star Bola Agbaje — have written commissioned pieces examining the state of black Britain.

Kwei-Armah's Seize The Day looks at whether Londoners would elect a black mayor in the aftermath of President Obama's election in the US. The 42-year-old from Friern Barnet, said: "The symbolism of a black mayor would send out to the world it's not only America that is the land of the free."

Williams's play Category B looks at the disproportionate number of black people in British jails. Williams, 41, from Greenwich, said: "It seemed like an exciting project — seeing black characters on stage coming from worlds the audience may not have seen before."

In Detaining Justice, Agbaje, 28, from Greenwich, the London-born daughter of Nigerian immigrants, uncovers the issues facing asylum seekers.

Williams won the Standard's most promising playwright award in 2001 and Kwei-Armah took the same prize two years later. Agbaje was shortlisted last year.

Baroness Howells, a trustee of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, said: "There are many black people in Britain who have achieved a great deal but too often it is not celebrated enough and much of the community still struggles to feel equal in British society. I'm all for plays which highlight the struggle people of colour face."

Franklyn Rogers, whose recent photography exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, Underexposed, looked at the history of black acting talent, said: "Theatre is becoming more accessible and black actors and theatre needs to be celebrated. Young black people need role models." The Not Black And White season runs from 8 October to 19 December.