WE ALL WANT TO CENSOR SOMETHING:

Trotter wrote the lyrics and much of the music, which ranges from hip hop to R&B to jazz to folk. And he plays Dr. Junius Crookman, inventor of the Black No More machine, which will turn any Black person white -- for $50. Trotter says, the doctor believes "this Black No More device is the solution to race relations in America. I think the line is 'to solve the American race problem as we know it.' But yeah, you know, I don't think a solution is ever reached."

And that is the Twilight Zone-like premise of Black No More, which features a script by Academy Award-winner John Ridley. The 1931 novel, by George Schuyler, has a take-no-prisoners attitude toward not just white supremacists and politicians, but thinly veiled figures from the Harlem Renaissance, which choreographer Bill T. Jones finds offensive. "When I read the novel, I must admit I was kind of pissed off about it," Jones says. "Yeah, I like bad boys, too. I don't like smart asses, of course, and particularly when they're Black ones making fun of Black people."

So, the challenge for the creative team, especially the writers, was to move the story from broad satire to something with a beating heart, says director Scott Elliott: "I think that what they've come up with is a really fascinating morality tale."

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