One of the most powerful, bizarre and surrealist dramas to be shown in Cleveland in a long time is "The Blacks," at Karamu Theater, and Marc Primus, the guest director from New York, has some interesting opinions as to why this is so.

"9

"You must remember that playwright Jean Genet is a homosexual," he said, "and in this play he has identified to the blacks as a fellow social outcast. Like the blacks he is not subject to the social sanctions of ordinary white society. This is why he has made the blacks so wild and savage.

"His message is not basically one of racial hatred, but rather the protest of an outcast. It's not about blacks in any particular locality, but about blacks throughout the world, which is why we have the cast clad in nationalist costumes.

"We have also elaborated on the vulgarities in the play because that is the way too many white people think they see us."

A Native of Fort Riley, Kans., Pri mus worked his way through San Francisco State University. He holds a degree in anthropology. He acted leading roles in "Oedipus" and "The Emperor Jones" on the West Coast. He also plays a role in an Italian film which he scripted and which will be released next summer.

He is director of the Afro-American Folkloric Troupe, a professional black company with its own theater în New York, which produces plays treating of Afro-American folklore.