'...And Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi' at Booth Theatre - Program

December 11–15, 2019

by Marcus Gardley directed by Sara Katzoff

B

O

S

T

O

N

U

N

I

V

E

R

S

I

T

Y

A MESSAGE FROM THE SCHOOL OF THEATRE DIRECTOR

A

s you are seated for this production you must imagine yourself positioned on the banks of the Mississippi River during the Civil War. Just as a river rolls slowly and steadily along, let the poetry and rhythm of the words by Marcus Gardley immerse you in the story and the characters of ...and Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi.

This play reminds us of the fleeting nature of our time on earth and the bonds we have with each other to make our time here meaningful.

This play is directed, performed, designed, and run by students of the BU College of Fine Arts School of Theatre. The production is a complete example of where these emerging artists exist at this moment in time as they work to create a lifelong journey of work and accomplishment. Thank you for joining us on their journey and we look forward to seeing you again as you follow the work of each of these talented theatre makers.

Susan Mickey Director and Professor, School of Theatre

by Marcus Gardley

directed by Sara Katzoff Music Director Scenic Designer Costume Designer Lighting Designer Sound Designer Technical Director Stage Manager Production Manager

Mya Ison Christa Tausney Zane Kealey Amanda Fallon Jonathan Beals Jacob DeSousa Jolie Frazer-Madge Stephanie Elrod

Produced by special arrangement with and all authorized performance materials supplied by WILLIAM MORRIS ENDEAVOR ENTERTAINMENT, LLC

CAST MISS SSIPPI CADENCE VERSE JEAN VERSE BRER BIT FREE GIRL BLANCHE VERSE

Dani Palmer Caroline Quigley Alfred Bardwell-Evans VonDerrick Taylor Tatiana Chavez Emily Hentschel

YANKEE POT ROAST

Camden Garcia

DAMASCUS/DEMETER

Nicholas Walker

THE GREAT TREE/JESUS

Tatiana Webster

Alfred Bardwell-Evans

Tatiana Chavez

Emily Hentschel

Dani Palmer

Caroline Quigley

VonDerrick Taylor

Nicholas Walker

Tatiana Webster

Camden Garcia

DESIGN & PRODUCTION TEAMS Assistant Director Dramaturg Dialect Coach Fight Choreographer Movement Director Assistant Stage Manager Associate Production Manager Run Crew

Kevin Kolton Bradley Nadia Frye Leinhos Christine Hamel VonDerrick Taylor Nicholas Walker Angela Dogani Kristen Pichette Zoe Garrick Peter DiMaggio Emily Fetter Maya Grace Gordon Lila Heller

Assistant Scenic Designer Paint Charge Properties Master Assistant Properties Master Assistant Technical Director Master Carpenter/Rigger

Meg McGuigan Samantha Galvao Emma Barron Samantha Mastrati Bella Byrne Mia Moshier

Assistant Costume Designer Costume Shop Foreman Drapers

Talia Adler Whitney Vaughan Maria Albutra Jesse Azevedo Whitney Vaughan Kat Ibasco Samantha Stafford Cami Wright Liza Ayus Amanda Caswell Grace Saathoff

First Hands

Costume Crafts Head Crafts Team

DESIGN & PRODUCTION TEAMS Stitchers

Wardrobe Head Wardrobe Crew

Assistant Lighting Designer Moving Light Programmer Master Electrician Light Board Operator Follow Spot Operators

Danielle Bazan Francesca Padilla Maia Soltis Maddy Brown Klara Ballay Nathaniel Crain Devin Sullivan William Brown Angus Goodearl Spencer Morgan Serenity S’rae Valyn Lyric Turner

Sound Engineer Assistant Sound Designer Assistant Sound Engineer Sound Board Operator

Jacob Montgomery Sara Vargas Feitong Wang Anika Reichelt

Front of House Manager Front of House Staff

David Picariello Abisola Akinsete Dominic Colangelo Ernesto Garrido Lola Kennedy Maurie Moore Jameson Murray Arushi Kalra

A NOTE FROM THE COMPANY “So truth could live final, indefinitely Here” - Marcus Gardley Set on the banks of the Mississippi River during the apex of the Civil War ...and Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi is a reimagining of the myth of Persephone and Demeter inspired by a true story that playwright Marcus Gardley’s greatgrandmother used to tell about her father, who freed himself from the bonds of slavery and traveled the country in search of his family.

Merging both the epic and the personal, Gardley weaves threads of Greek and Yoruba mythology, Black folktales and religious iconography to create a patchwork of grace, pain, redemption and reckoning.

In embodying this raw and poetic story that centers Black bodies and voices within an Antebellum southern narrative, our hope is that this play contributes to an intersectional dialogue about the legacy of slavery in America and how this legacy continues to uphold systems of racial oppression and injustice.

2019 marks the 400th anniversary of the beginning of transatlantic slavery in America.

While this anniversary has been observed with an outpouring of scholarship through media like The New York Times Magazine’s 1619 Project and the increased visibility of conversations that address issues of race and privilege, there is also a systematic erasure of this history and ongoing attempts to diminish, censor, or reduce the role that the institution of slavery has played

in the foundation of our nation. This play seeks to disrupt silence and add its vital threads to an ongoing and urgent conversation.

As James Baldwin wrote in 1962, "Not everything that is faced can be changed but nothing can change until it is faced.” This sentiment resonates deeply with the questions ...and Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi is illuminating about truth and reconciliation.

Throughout this process, our company of actors, designers, directors, stage managers, and dramaturgs have worked collectively within an ensemble practice of shared and circular leadership; this has served as a means of lifting, reframing, celebrating, re-imagining and grappling with the pain and grace of this story through music, community, and an exchange of knowledge.

We are honored to share Marcus Gardley’s words and this journey of transformation with you as an expression of the shared threads of this distinctly American quilt. We invite you to join us with a listening ear and to “Hear it, add your thread to it, then pass it ‘long.”

Thank you for choosing to spend this time with us. ~ The Company

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT Marcus Gardley is a prolific American poet, playwright and educator who The New Yorker hails as "the heir to Garcia Lorca, Pirandello and Tennessee Williams." He is currently an ensemble playwright at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, where his plays X or the Nation v Betty Shabazz, A Wonder in my Soul, an issue of blood, and Gospel of Lovingkindness have been produced. Select New York and regional productions include: Every Tongue Confesses at Arena Stage, On The Levee at Lincoln Center, black odyssey, (Trinity Rep and Front Porch Arts Collective), and The House That Will Not Stand, commissioned and produced by Berkeley Rep with subsequent productions at Yale Rep,

the Tricycle Theatre in London, and New York Theatre Workshop.

Gardley is the recipient of the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award, the Aetna New Voices Fellowship at Hartford Stage, the Helen Merrill Award, a Kesselring Prize, the Gerbode Emerging Playwright Award, and is a James Baldwin Fellow. He holds an MFA in Playwriting from the Yale Drama School and is an alumnus of New Dramatists, the Dramatists Guild and The Lark.

Gardley has taught playwriting at San Francisco State University, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Brown University, where he is currently an assistant professor of theatre and performance studies.

Coming soon from

CFA School of Theatre Dec 12-15

Feb 20 - 23

Studio ONE

Copeland Black Box Studio Theatre 354

Kamioroshi, the Descent of the Gods

By Ronald Richardson Directed by Sonoko Kawahara Produced by BU Arts Initiative Free Admission • reservations at bu.edu/cfa/arts

The Pride

By Alexi Kaye Campbell Directed by Kevin Kolton Bradley

Feb 27 - Mar 1

Photograph 51 Studio ONE

Dec 12-15

Time Stands Still “Jewels 2” Miller Studio Theatre 356

By Anna Ziegler Directed by Avital Shira

Feb 27 - Mar 1

By Donald Margulies Directed by Blair Cadden

The Rake’s Progress

Dec 14 - 18

Composed by Igor Stravinsky with Libretto by W. H. Auden & Chester Kallman Conducted by William Lumpkin Stage Direction by Jim Petosa

An opera in three acts Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre

Clearing

Copeland Black Box Studio Theatre 354

by Beth Hyland Directed by Leila Ghaemi

Feb 28 - Mar 1

The Wolves

Dec 18

Design & Production Works in Progress Open House

Joan and Edgar Booth Theatre The School of Theatre’s annual event showcases the work of the School’s first-year BFA Design & Production majors and MFA Design & Production Master Class students.

Studio 109

By Sarah DeLappe Directed by Erica Terpening-Romeo

Mar 9

New York Theatre Showcase Helen Mills Event Space and Theater • 139 West 26th St, New York, NY

Tickets & details at bu.edu/cfa/season

CAST Alfred Bardwell-Evans (JEAN VERSE) is a senior Acting major at BU and is thrilled and humbled to be part of the incredible team telling this story. He is overjoyed to be back in Boston after spending last semester abroad studying classical acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. Past BU credits include: Roy Cohn in Angels in America, Monsieur Papillon in Rhinoceros, and the title role in Cymbeline. He is forever grateful for all his friends and family for their support.

Tatiana Chavez (FREE GIRL) is honored to be Free Girl in this production. Marcus Gardley’s ability to weave this quilt about the Civil War and its impact on American culture and history through so many threads of cultures and time periods was a privilege to explore in this epic poem. Tatiana would like to thank her ancestors, her family and friends, her teachers, and her ensemble for making this dream come to life. Sankofa - the Adinkra symbol meaning to go back and get it. We can’t move forward without looking back.

“Love is or it ain’t. Thin love ain’t love at all.” -Toni Morrison

Camden Garcia (YANKEE POT ROAST) is a senior Theatre Arts major and is so excited to be a part of AJMM! Other BU credits include Peter in Peter and the Starcatcher, Todd in Particularly in the Heartland, and Howie in Speech and Debate. TV: Raising Hope, The Guest Book, My Name is Earl. Regional favorites: Reptile Dysfunction at The Second City Chicago and Crutchie in Newsies at Cortland Rep (SALT Award winner). Special thanks to BU and my parents for paying for BU. Emily Hentschel (BLANCHE VERSE) is a senior Theatre Arts major at Boston University and is more than thrilled to be part of this beautiful, important show. She recently studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. Some of her most recent roles include Phebe in As You Like It and Imogen in Cymbeline. She would like to thank the ….AJMM squad for all the love and all the amazing work.

Enjoy, enjoy!

Dani Palmer (MISS SSIPPI) is odee excited to be a member of this magical, mind-blowing, ALLAMERICAN production. A senior Acting major at BU, previous performances include Esther from Intimate Apparel by Lynn

Nottage, Mercy in Tragic Ecstasy of Girlhood by Kira Rockwell (BPT), and Chorus from Antigone

by Jean Anouilh. A Bronx native, she resides in NYC and plans to stay there after graduation (for a little while). This girl is in love with sharing her soul. Big ups Maxine and Ewan! Enjoy!

blessed to tell Brer Bit’s story and hopes that everyone takes a hard look at reality and the time we have lived and are living in in order to be enlightened and cause change.

VonDerrick Taylor (BRER BIT) a senior Acting major/storyteller at BU, he is a soulful poet who has known rivers ancient as the world and older than the sound of jazz in the soul of his city - New Orleans. Post-graduation plans include a film-acting career in Atlanta to give voice to the voiceless. He is humbled and

is an actress, filmmaker, and musician from Atlanta, Georgia. She is currently a senior Theatre Arts major and has previously performed in BU’s productions of The Exonerated, The Journey, and Intimate Apparel.

Nick Walker (DAMASCUS/ DEMETER) is incredibly excited for everyone to see what this Caroline Quigley (CADENCE team of people has been working VERSE) is honored to have the on. He is especially thankful to opportunity to shine light on such have been able to collaborate an important story. She reprised with his friends, who are very her role this summer as Anna much now, his family. This show in Particularly in the Heartland speaks volumes on community, (Foundry Theatre). Previous religion, love, magic, and history. roles at BU include Shannon So, big shout-out to our guy in Unmentionables and Molly Marcus Gardley, and a huge in Peter and the Starcatcher. “hello” and warm “I love you” to Caroline made her debut at Mom, Dad, Brandon, and Kyle.

Cannes Film Festival 2019 in iLabs You guys have gifted me with Inc. She completed the Film/TV so much more than you know. program with BU Los Angeles Thank you! and will soon receive her BFA Tatiana Webster (THE GREAT in Acting. Much love to Allison, TREE/JESUS) is ecstatic to Emma, and Cole! be involved in this show. She

ARTISTIC & DESIGN TEAM Jon Beals (SOUND DESIGNER) is excited to be returning to Booth Theatre as sound designer for AJMM. A senior Sound Design major at BU, his previous credits include co-designing for Horizon Line (Studio ONE) and engineering The Lathe of Heaven and Angels in America (Booth Theatre).

Jacob DeSousa (TECHNICAL DIRECTOR) is a D&P senior concentrating in Technical Production. He would like to thank the company for their passion and collaboration on this production and the technicians from his department for their ambition and selflessness working on this project.

Stephanie Elrod (PRODUCTION MANAGER) is a third-year MFA candidate in Production Management and is currently an Associate Producer at LinkedIn. BU credits include Cabaret, Runaways, The Lathe of Heaven, and the BU Fringe Festival.

Amanda Fallon (LIGHTING DESIGNER) is a theatre artist with a love for inclusive work.

Having spent time with The Public Theater in 2017, the

Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2018, and, most recently, the BU Summer Theatre Institute, she is working toward her Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design at BU. Jolie Frazer-Madge (STAGE MANAGER) is a senior Stage Management major with a concentration in Performance.

BU credits include Angels in America Part Two: Perestroika (SM), Femina Shakes: Measure for Measure (SM), and Rhinoceros (ASM). Professional Boston credits include Winter People at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre (ASM), and Greater Good at Company One (ASM).

A South Carolina native, she is thrilled to be working on a piece that diversifies the Southern narrative.

Mya Ison (MUSIC DIRECTOR and VOICE OF POEM) is a sophomore Theatre Arts major and is overjoyed to be a part of telling this beautiful story! She would like to give gratitude to the family of collaborators on this piece, to Marcus Gardley for creating this quilt for us to unravel, and to the backs of enslaved people that this history was built on.

Sara Katzoff (DIRECTOR) is a third-year MFA Directing candidate, theatre-maker and co-founder of Bazaar Productions/The Berkshire Fringe, an international collective dedicated to championing radical new work by emerging artists. Recent directing/devising collaborations include: Particularly in the Heartland (Artist-in-residence, The Foundry); Laughs In Spanish (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre); PASSAGE (Kickwheel Ensemble Theater); The Waypoint (MASS MoCA); Facing Our Truth (Colonial Theatre); Everywoman (WAM Theatre), and This Generation/My Generation (Barrington Stage). At BU she has directed The Clean House, Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage, and Natsu Onoda Power’s adaptation of The Lathe of Heaven. More at sarakatzoff. com.

Zane Kealey (COSTUME DESIGNER) is an MFA Costume Design student. Previous BU designs: Our Country’s Good, Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage, and Runaways.

Upcoming designs: Boston Dance Theater and Shannon

Gillen’s Women on the Verge at ICA Boston (Dec. 2019) and Wheelock Family Theatre’s Little Women (Feb. 2020). zanekealey.com Christa Tausney (SCENIC DESIGNER) is a third-year MFA candidate in Scenic Design at BU. Recent credits include InMotion Theatre’s Sunlight Interior, When the Rain Stops Falling, Cymbeline, and Eurydice.

Past work experience includes Meadowbrook Theatre and The Parade Company. She is honored to be a part of this production team!

DRAMATURGY NOTE At the center of the play is the Mississippi River— deep, wide, and rich in memory and religiosity. Langston Hughes’ poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” is imbedded at the beginning of the script, and it rings true: “I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”

The Mississippi River is witness to all of the action in this play; all that comes before, and all that moves after. As we move between two timelines — May 22, 1863 in Vicksburg, Mississippi and May 25, 1865 in Proctorville, Louisiana — the Mississippi remains a constant, the story unfolding on her shores and blending with her waters.

Rivers carry religious and spiritual weight in all the faiths explored in the play, and Miss Ssippi weaves through all of them. Marcus Gardley’s writing moves between Christianity, Ancient Greek, Santeria, and Voodoo religious mythos, evoking deities from every religion that touched black populations during the antebellum period. Enslaved people of this time period would congregate in secret at what were called hush arbor meetings, where they were able to share and blend ideas and practices into many interconnected understandings of a higher power (Pinn). In places like New Orleans — near where Free Girl’s storyline takes place— one can still find Catholic Voodooists, and often loas (or orishas, or deities) are honored using pictures of saints.

In this play, the fluidity of spirituality is made visible and made possible in the guise of the river. Miss Ssippi provides the space for the story to be woven; she is “The Quilter,” blending together all the threads of the tale into what you have come to see.

Even the dual time periods are woven together on her shores— May 23, 1863 and May 25, 1865 blend together just as the deities do, allowing time to move in any manner besides a straight line. As Jean and Yankee flee the Battle of Vicksburg in 1863 (Long), Cadence, Blanche, and Free Girl live in 1865 after the war is over, though no news of its end has reached them yet in Louisiana (Taylor). The storylines intertwine and intersect, even blending past with present with the titular stage direction. If anything in this play were truly linear, would Jesus be Moonwalking on the Mississippi?

Walking into the space through the Great Tree, we are greeted with a circular stage: our river. We are asked from the very moment we step into this world to embrace the idea that nothing— not time, religion, life, or death— is linear or straightforward. On the banks of the Mississippi River, things must be blended and woven together to be Free.

Feb 27 – Mar 1,

2020

Opera by Igor Stravinsky with a libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman Directed by Jim Petosa Conducted by William Lumpkin

bu.edu/cfa/season

Book by Arthur Laurents Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Directed by Clay Hopper

20 Apr 24–26, 20

Music Direction by Matthew Stern Choreography by Larry Sousa

bu.edu/cfa/symphonyhall

Boston University Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and Symphonic Chorus

Boston Symphony Hall Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Design & Production Works in Progress Open House Wed, Dec 18 5 - 7 pm Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre CFA School of Theatre’s annual event showcases the work of the School’s first-year BFA Design & Production majors and MFA Design & Production Master Class students.

College of Fine Arts Harvey Young Dana Clancy Gregory Melchor-Barz Susan Mickey

Dean, College of Fine Arts Director, School of Visual Arts Director, School of Music Director, School of Theatre

School of Theatre McCaela Donovan Beth Barefoot Johnny Kontogiannis Adam Kassim Brian Dudley Olivia Dumaine Allyson Beheler Penney Pinette Todd Burgun Mac Vaughey Emily Ranii

Assistant Director Business Manager Production Manager 855 Production Manager Undergraduate Academic Advisor Administrative Coordinator, Performance Administrative Coordinator, Design & Production Costume Shop Manager Scene Shop Manager Lighting and Sound Shop Manager Academic Program Head, BUSTI

Performance Faculty Judy Braha# Yo-EL Cassell Mark Cohen Kirsten Greenidge Christine Hamel# Michael Hammond Clay Hopper Melodie Jeffery-Cassell Michael Kaye# Paula Langton

Kristin Leahey Georgia Lyman Maurice Emmanuel Parent Jim Petosa Betsy Polatin Matthew Stern Micki Taylor-Pinney Elaine Vaan Hogue Ryan Winkles

Design & Production Faculty Jorge Arroyo Joel Brandwine# Diane Fargo Julie Hennrikus Nancy Leary# James McCartney Seรกghan McKay James Noone#

David Remedios# Jon Savage# Mark Stanley# Cristina Todesco Mariann Verheyen# Denise Wallace-Spriggs Renee E. Yancey#

#

Program Head

Boston University College of Fine Arts

Established in 1954, Boston University College of Fine Arts (CFA) is a community of artist-scholars and scholar-artists who are passionate about the fine and performing arts, committed to diversity and inclusion, and determined to improve the lives of others through art. With programs in Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts, CFA prepares students for a meaningful creative life by developing their intellectual capacity to create art, shift perspective, think broadly, and master relevant 21st century skills. CFA offers a wide array of precollege, undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs, as well as a range of online degrees and certificates. Boston University College of Fine Arts consists of School of Music, School of Theatre, School of Visual Arts, Opera Institute, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Boston University Art Galleries and Wheelock Family Theatre, as well as numerous centers and programs dedicated to the fine and performing arts. Learn more at bu.edu/cfa.

Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre

The School of Theatre at Boston University College of Fine Arts offers conservatory-style education for the study of acting, stage management, design, production, theatre education, and all aspects of the theatre profession within the setting of a major research university. The School of Theatre provides students with opportunities for artistic growth through a rigorous curriculum, professional connections, and an emphasis on collaboration and new work.

Boston University Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre

Opened in December 2017, this bold, state-of-the-art structure encourages innovation, conversation, and collaboration. The flexible design of Booth Theatre allows for the inventive evolution of performances and a deep engagement with audiences.

Research is at the core of Boston University, and the College of Fine Arts practices it every day in the form of creative experimentation. Booth Theatre and the adjacent CFA Production Center are laboratories for such research, and in every detail, they are purpose-built for discovery. The Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre is funded in part by a $10 million gift from BU Trustee Stephen M. Zide (LAW’86), who named the venue in honor of his wife’s parents for sharing their passion for the dramatic arts with him and his family. Learn more at bu.edu/booth.

bu.edu/cfa

@buarts

#myCFA