In what could be a prelude to Shakespeare’s Othello, Djanet Sears’s Harlem Duet recounts the story of Othello and his first wife Billie (before Desdemona). Their history is told through the lives of three couples during eras of special significance in the Black American Experience. Set in contemporary Harlem at the corner of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X Boulevards, the tale toes the line of racial identity, sexual politics, and mental illness in the black community. Sears’ script diffuses…