Welcome to Troy, USA, 1972, where tensions are high, draft cards are burning, and protests are rampant. A Chorus of historic activists and organizers guides us through this world premiere adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, examining war, race, class, oppression, betrayal, and just how far we will go for love.
Featuring striking imagery, soulful music, and a powerful multi-racial ensemble cast, Troy, USA marks the first major collaboration between playwrights Don Wilson Glenn and Dmae Lo Roberts.
TROY USA
MARTHA BAKES
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A biography of a Revolution and Insurrection that never Happened,” a one-woman show that takes a satirical lens to American Colonial HerStory. Part historical biography and part cooking show, the audience is invited into the relationship between Martha Washington, the original First Lady, and her dower slave Oney Marie Judge during an imagined slave revolt on Mount Vernon. The play begins with Martha, the fresh widow of George Washington, socially distancing herself during a fictitious slave uprising on Mount Vernon. The slaves have learned the contents of George’s will declaring that the over 350 enslaved bodies on the plantation are to be set free –upon the death of Martha. Enduring her newfound circumstances with a pleasant disposition, Martha bakes a three-course meal during the revolt as she barricades herself in the kitchen, and with each preparation reflects on her influential role with scant representation in the creation of the nation.
“That the suffrage and abolition movements are not always easy bedfellows echo the legacies of racism, sexism and voter suppression that our nation is still struggling to unpack today,” Glenn said.
![two_Martha Bakes_Vanport Mosaic__Adrienne Flagg_2324x1310_photo by Nora Colie[6065].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0ee786_b41f3a3d84e14eecb8f99dafe98b7ad9~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_489,h_276,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/0ee786_b41f3a3d84e14eecb8f99dafe98b7ad9~mv2.jpg)
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Troy, USA, 1973. Tensions are high. Draft cards are burning. Protests are rampant. A Chorus of historic activists and organizers guides us through this world premiere adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, examining war, race, class, oppression, betrayal, and just how far we will go for love.
Walking through Portland with a Panther, The life of Mr. Kent Ford, All Power to the People
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Rev. Ratcliff La Blount a resident of the City of New Orleans leaves the city before Hurricane Katrina makes landfall, travels to his old hometown with his son Slidell and daughter in-law Treme’ to the rural East Texas community of Onalaska where they wait out the storm with Ratcliff’s stepmother Lucille Blue; after hearing word about New Orleans’ destruction Ratcliff and his family are faced with being displaced and homeless like millions of others from New Orleans, but even more upsetting for Ratcliff is realizing he has lost his identity and culture – “one can never go home again.”
American summer
squash: katrina 2005 raw
AMERICAN KING
UMPS
Set during the Civil War on the King Cotton Plantation in West Texas, the story of American King Umps begins as the Master of the Plantation fearing the oncoming of the Union Army, sells his large holding of slaves and then attempts to burn the entire plantation. In the master's absence the slaves are left both to govern themselves and define their own identities. King Umps is high-comedy from beginning to end, a parody of Gone With the Wind and Comedy of Errors meets A Midsummer’s night Dream.
American Menu
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It's May 1968, just after the murder of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and a month before the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Five Black kitchen workers in a segregated lunch counter are forced to engage in painful self examination brought about by the senseless death of a young boy. Through passionate conversations, these women face the realities of life on the cusp of change. Jammed in a hot, airless room they must battle prejudice, poverty, ignorance and each other as they search for inspiration.
AMERICAN REVIVAL