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Theater review: Pioneer Theatre Company's KING JAMES

A tale of two men bonding over basketball reveals the gaps in male friendship.

Khiry Walker and Eli Mayer in "King James" BW PRODUCTIONS Matt (Eli Mayer) and Shawn (Khiry Walker) are friends, as anyone would generally apply the term—but what does it actually mean to be “friends” when you are two adult men, and particularly when one is White and the other is Black?

That’s the fascinating question asked by Rajiv Joseph’s King James —currently showing in Pioneer Theatre Company’s production at the Meldrum Theatre—with results that get messy in a way that illuminates a lot about the parameters within which we expect people to interact with one another in America.

They’re…

This is a 600 character excerpt. Read the full story at City Weekly, where it was published on March 23, 2026.

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