Do No Harm - Presented by Soul Rep Theatre Company

Celebrating local dance, theatre and art in the

Dallas Arts District.

Do No Harm

Presented by Soul Rep Theatre Company

March 10 – 19, 2022

PRODUCTION TEAM Director…… Guinea Bennett-Price Set and Light designer……M. Scott Tatum Stage Manager……Malaisian Ann Parker Production Manager……Ashley M. Oliver Costume Designer……Tonya Holloway Asst. Set Designer…… Madison Conerly

CAST Whitney LaTrice Coulter……. LUCY Johanna Nchekwube………BESTY Brittney Bluitt….... ANARCHA Claire Carson…..….. TABITHA

ADDITIONAL VOICES (Voice Overs) Paul Munger, Eugene Chandler, Satchel Victory Zanetta “Oshunfemi” Williams (singing)

ANYIKA MCMILLAN-HEROD BIO Anyika McMillan-Herod is a Dallas native, Co-founder and Executive Director of Soul Rep Theatre Company, an area playwright, author, director, actress, and development professional. She is also a 2019 Public Voices Fellow with the OpEd Project.

McMillan-Herod, an alumna of Booker T. Washington HighSchool for the Performing and Visual Arts (Arts Magnet), holds a BFA in Theater from Prairie View A&M University and studied acting in California Institute of the Arts’ MFA program.

She published her first novel, Looking for Grace, and two poetry collections four years ago. As a playwright, she premiered a play about the journey through breast cancer, The Monarch, in June 2018, in a co-production with Echo Theatre. The production marked the ten-year anniversary of Anyika being breast cancer free. She adapted two Latin American short stories by Juan Rulfo and Alfredo Cardona Peña for Teatro Dallas’ 2017 Day of the Dead production – An Evening with Two Giants. Additionally, Anyika debuted four, new short plays over the last few years through Soul Rep’s Southside Stories Festival, House Party Theatre’s

Damsels! Play Festival and Soul Rep’s Soul-O-Shorts Series.

ABOUT THE PLAY Playwright, Anyika McMillan-Herod, was commissioned by former SMU Theology Professor, Dr. Evelyn Parker and the Association of Practical Theology (APT) to write Do No Harm as an exploration of “ethics in medicine” in America. It was to make its world premiere in Houston in April 2020 at APT’s biennial international conference but was canceled due to the onset of the pandemic. A staged reading of the play, in collaboration with Echo Theatre, was also canceled due to the pandemic.

Fortunately, Soul Rep was able to pivot and premiere Do No Harm as a film as part of its 25th Anniversary season in 2021 with much success. The play was filmed in a slave cabin at Dallas Heritage Village at Old City Park and was presented in partnership with SMU’s Department of Theology. In addition to the film, SMU presented a lecture series and commissioned a composer to create a liturgical ser-

vice inspired by Do No Harm. The play is now a component of the school’s ethics and bioethics curriculum as a fine arts module.

Soul Rep is ecstatic to debut this new and important historical drama on the stage as part of the AT&T Performing Arts Center’s 2021-2022 season of Elevator Project.

McMillan-Herod sees Do No Harm as an homage and tribute not only to the three enslaved women portrayed in this production – Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy – but as an overall tribute to the sisterhood, faith, and resilience of ancestors who faced the indignity and horrors of slavery for generations.

BIOS Brittney Bluitt (Anarcha), a native of Dallas, TX has made her staple work in Independent Film and New Media projects including the hit web series #Washed, in which she was recently nominated for the Best Guest Actress in an indie series award at the 12th annual Indie Series Awards in Los Angeles, CA. You can also catch Brittney in other local

film projects such as Natural Hair the Movie on Amazon Prime. Brittney first began her theater journey with Soul Rep Theatre in 2020 by portraying the role of Anarcha in the filmed version of Do No Harm and had her first live theater performance in 2021 portraying the role of Daughter in their production of Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery.

Being no stranger to the stage, Brittney performed as a dance student during her high school career at Lancaster High School and later performed with the Loris Beckles Dance Company in Dallas, TX. Brittney started her acting career in 2016 studying scene work and character analysis under Theresa Bell at the Tbell Actors Studio.

Johanna Nchekwube (Betsey) is thrilled to be a part of the cast and crew of Do No Harm, making her debut at Soul Rep Theatre Co. Her previous notable productions include Not Someone Like Me at The Riot Act, A Sketch of New York at The Producers Club NYC, Memphis the Musical at Theatre Three, and Milk Like Sugar at StageWorks.

Much love to my family and a huge thanks to all who brought this courageous piece of art together.

Whitney LaTrice Coulter (Lucy) Actress. Costumer. Director. (She/ Her). Whitney is thrilled to be part of Do No Harm again! After 8 years in the DFW area, Whitney has numerous credits to her name, most recently T’wana Jepson in A Love Offering (Kitchen Dog). Nina in Sunset Baby (Jubilee Theatre), Ruby in Seven Guitars, Olivia/Ensemble in The Color Purple, JUBILATION II, Vanessa in Black Boy Fly, Yolande Du Bois in Knock Me a Kiss and Marta in Company. Other local credits: Holly Burrell in Foxfire (Theatre Three), Adiel/Ruth in Cardboard Piano (Proper Hijinx), Bridges:LGBTQ (Flexible Grey Theatre Co.), ensemble in Where Earth Meets the Sky (Cara Mia Theatre Co.), Sophie in Ruined, Emilie in The Submission (Proper Hijinx), Adelaide Bell in Her Song (Echo Theatre), Minnie in Parade (WaterTower Theatre), Myrlie Evers/Claudette in Mississippi G’Damn (South Dallas Cultural Center) and Pirate Queen in Jonah (Undermain Theatre).

Claire Carson (Tabitha) is a queer actress, playwright, sound designer, dog/cat mom and published poet from Denver, CO. Claire graduated from Southern Methodist University in 2014 with a BFA in

Theater Studies. She was last seen on stage in the 2020 Elevator Project production of Playwrights in the Newsroom by Brigham Mosley and Janielle Kastner. In 2014-2015, Claire was a member of the Dallas Playwrights’ Workshop at Dallas Theater Center, under the guidance of Will Power, where she studied alongside the incredible Do No Harm playwright and Soul Rep Co-Founder Anyika McMillan-Herod. Claire is thrilled and grateful to be involved with this project.

Malaisian Ann Parker (Stage Manager) is a native of Morgan City, LA. She received her Associate of Applied Arts Degree from KD Conservatory College of Film and the Dramatic Arts in Dallas. She is very excited to be continuing her professional development with Soul Rep once again. She has worked on projects in the DFW area making her mark as a stage manager, assistant stage manager, backstage crew, director’s assistant, and actor. Favorite pieces she has done include: Pam in The Talented Tenth, Liz in Almost Blue, Claudia in False Hopes, Deirdre in Good Kids, and Miss Pringle in Baby with the Bathwater. With a background in dance and singing, she believes that her passion will always lead her to purpose, and that’s why the arts will always be

her first true love! Find her on social media platforms @MalaisianParker or Malaisian Ann Parker.

Guinea Bennett-Price (Director) is a Dallas-born actor, director, playwright and Theatre Conservatory Director of Booker T. Washington High School for Performing and Visual Arts. She holds a Masters in Theater from Texas A&M Commerce and a BFA in Theater from Howard University in Washington, DC. She is a founding member and Co-Artistic Director of Soul Rep Theatre Company. Recent acting credits include the role of Ravinia Whitfield with Kitchen Dog Theater, and opposite her son Esau in The Water Gun Song for Dallas Children’s Theater. Favorite roles have been the Blues Speak Woman in Spunk and Storyteller in Herstories. She directed The Freedmans, Soul Rep’s ongoing signature production featured in the 2017-2018 season of Elevator Project. Other directing credits include Snowy Day (Soul Rep/ Dallas Children’s Theater), My Red Hand, My Black Hand, and Black Nativity (Jubilee Theatre), In the Blood (Soul Rep/Undermain), For Colored Girls… (Cara Mia/Soul Rep), Once On This Island and Dreamgirls (Soul Rep/TFM Productions), Diary of Anne Frank, Rhyme Deferred, Blues for Mister Charlie, Death and the King’s Horseman and Love/Sick

(Booker T. Washington HSPVA).

M. Scott Tatum (Scenic & Lighting Designer) is an arts education leader and advocate. Scott received his BFA in Theatre Studies and Master of Arts in Curriculum & Instruction at The University of Texas at Austin. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy from Texas Tech University. In Austin, he was Head of Theatre at McCallum Fine Arts Academy (The Laramie Project, Into the Woods, Once On This Island, Evita, Tommy, Parade, Cabaret), Founder of Half & Half Theatre Productions (Passing Strange, Chicago), and served as Director for Zilker Theatre Productions (The Sound of Music, The Little Shop of Horrors, Oklahoma!). In Dallas, Scott served as Dean of Arts at Booker T. Washington HSPVA (A Chorus Line, Bring It On), is the resident designer for Indique Dance Company and Soul Rep Theatre Co, directed The Glass Menagerie at Firehouse Theatre, and is Chair of the City of Farmers Branch Arts & Culture Committee. When not working as a designer, director, or producer, Scott is the Principal of Dallas ISD’s Longfellow Career Exploration Academy and project lead for the new Digital & Creative Arts High School, opening in Fall 2023 in the Bishop Arts District.

2022 BROADWAY SEASON MUSIC BY SARA BAREILLES (“LOVE SONG,” “BRAVE”)

ATTPAC.ORG/BROADWAY

GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM