Urbanite's 'From 145th to 98th Street' follows a family's search for a better life

“From 145th to 98th Street” is a play about a Harlem family. And every family.

Nia Akilah Robinson’s play is making its world premiere at Urbanite Theatre on May 30. The play unfolds in 2014. Sadly, its issues are still in the news.

Robinson’s play revolves around the Curtlys, an upwardly mobile Black family. They recently left Harlem for New York City’s Upper West Side. That seems like a big step up for the family. 

But life brings them down. One day, their son, Jamal, comes home covered in bruises. Jamal was beaten because a local news team falsely identified him as a robbery suspect. They put his larger-than-life photo right next to the culprit’s name. But he’s the wrong Jamal Curtly. 

That idiotic mistake plunges the family down a rabbit hole of generational, racial and socio-economic conflicts. It’s heavy subject matter. But Robinson’s play keeps a lighthearted tone. It’s a heartfelt, hilarious celebration of one resilient family’s unbreakable bonds. 

Life gets tough for that family. But the Curtlys are too proud to quit. And too loving to quit on each other. They’re also too stubborn to stop arguing — even when they know they’re wrong. For such a smart family, the Curtlys can be surprisingly stupid at times.

Real families are nuanced and full of maddening contradictions. The Curtly family is, too. That’s why they feel so real. That sense of authenticity was the playwright’s goal.

 “I want Sarasota audiences to feel like they’re looking into the living room of a real Black family living in New York City,” Robinson says. “Whatever their background, Urbanite theatergoers will recognize their own family dynamics — the arguments, the love and the tough decisions.”

Robinson’s characters are universal. But their story is deeply rooted in a specific sense of place. Harlem’s the place. Not Dublin, Los Angeles or Yoknapatawpha County.

The playwright paints a vividly accurate picture of that Manhattan neighborhood. It’s not always flattering. But it captures a real community. Despite the insulting clichés, Harlem is actually a nice place to live. 

“The Harlem community has its own resources,” Robinson says. “I make that very clear in my play. The Curtlys moved to a different community as a path to a better life. But it wasn’t their only path forward. The family could’ve stayed in Harlem and flourished.”

Robinson adds that the move wasn’t a selfish choice for the parents.

Image courtesy of Sorcha Augustine

“Jackie and Cedric were striving for a better life — not for themselves, but for their children,” she says. “The Upper West Side expanded their opportunities. Their daughter, Fatima, would get free counseling and college prep in her new school district. Their son, Jamal, would get a much wider range of promising career choices. Their parents never had those options.”

The logic behind the move was sound. The parents’ motives were pure. The real-life consequences turned out to be messy. Fact or fiction, that’s the way it goes in many family stories.

“From 145th to 98th Street” is a family affair at its core. That’s true for the play — and also for its development. Preparing the play for its world premiere has been a family affair for the playwright and her Urbanite creative collaborators for the last five years. During those years, Robinson and her creative team became as close as any family. 

Before that, the emerging playwright was often on her own. That changed in the spring of 2020. It was the time of COVID. But Urbanite Theatre held its first Charles Rowan Beye New Play Commission contest anyway. After sending a few writing samples, the playwright submitted an early draft of “From 145th to 98th Street” for consideration. 

Her script was far from perfect, but it was strong. Urbanite awarded Robinson the commission. The play’s development process soon began. The playwright wasn’t just typing on a lonely screen anymore. What was that like?

A life-changing commission

“The last five years have been incredible for me,” Robinson says. “Urbanite’s constant support has transformed me in so many ways. Creatively, I’ve grown as a playwright — and I’ve made my script so much better. I’ve also grown as a person. This commission has made a profound difference in my life and work.”

“From 145th to 98th Street” has also made an impact on the life of its director, Jerrica D. White. Urbanite Producing Artistic Director Summer Wallace tapped White to direct the play’s premiere in late 2024. But White got her first taste at a play reading in Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York City earlier that year.

“The play instantly jumped into my spirit,” she says. “It’s been living with me ever since.”

The play reading was a powerful experience for White. But fleeting. It doesn’t come close to her experience directing this play.

“Even the best play reading is like a drive-by,” White explains. “You go to a theater for one or two hours. After the reading’s over, you move on to something else. It’s a short-term thing. But directing a play is a long-term commitment. You live with these characters throughout rehearsals and the run of the play.”

White’s done exactly that for the last six months. Needless to say, she’s gotten to know the Curtly family pretty well. How would she introduce them?

“I’d describe them as a family of love, laughter and sacrifice,” White says. “They’re messy, but real. The parents don’t lecture their kids. They hold honest conversations — the kind I wish I’d had with my own parents. The Curtlys feel like a real family to me. I think that’s why their story resonates so powerfully.”

Image courtesy of Sorcha Augustine

The Curtly family is fictional. But their story mirrors the struggles of many real-world families today. The playwright and director are both keenly aware of that.

According to White, “From 145th to 98th Street” gets “painfully close” to the shifting fault lines of contemporary values, ambition and generational attitudes. It’s a play about now — and that’s always a moving target. The director thinks the playwright hit it.

How did the playwright work her magic?

“I think it’s her command of language,” White says. “The Curtly family’s speech is very authentic. The children are millennials; their parents are Gen X. Their jokes have different references. The kids don’t always get the parents’ jokes and vice versa. But they laugh with each other anyway.”

Urbanite’s Wallace agrees. She’s been hooked on Robinson’s writing since Urbanite’s 2020 script contest. “The selection from Nia’s play was one of the best things I read that year,” Wallace says. “I instantly fell in love with her writing.”

Five years later, Wallace is still full of joy. “Nia’s a rising talent as a playwright,” she says. “She balances lyrical language with gritty storytelling. And she centers her stories on Black joy and everyday experience, not just trauma. Nia challenges stereotypes and broaden perspectives. That beautifully aligns with Urbanite’s mission.”