One of the primary themes of Trouble in Mind is racism in art. There are three specific ways Childress addresses this theme in the play: through the racist stereotypes in art, through the justification of racism as an artistic choice, and racism in the artistic workplace.

The first way Childress addresses racism in art is through the stereotypes the Black characters are asked to reinforce through the roles they portray in Chaos in Belleville. Millie tells the cast that she is embarrassed to keep playing the same stereotypical roles. She says, “Last show I was in, I wouldn’t even tell my relatives. All I did was shout ‘Lord, have mercy!’ for almost two hours every night” (16). The roles that are written for the Black actors, by white writers, are inauthentic to the people they claim to portray. The characters end up being more caricatures than people. These portrayals reinforce racism because the only Black stories on stage or screen are inauthentic, which impacts both the audiences that consume them and the actors who are kept from developing and enjoying their craft.

The second way racism seeps into art is through the justification of racist portrayals in the name of art.