MS. Avery Baby

"In The Red and Brown  Water

JANUARY 23 - FEBRUARY 7, 2015

Directed by Chad Henderson

Columbia, SC's, Trustus Theatre is bringing a fresh voice in American playwriting to Columbia as they open Tarell Alvin McCraney's In the Red and Brown Water; part one of a trilogy called The Brother/Sister Plays. This play is likened to a choreopoem where poetry, prose, music, and movement come together to tell a story. This unique script and ambitious production will open on the Thigpen Main Stage .

 

The story of In the Red and Brown Water is grown from the seeds of the Yoruba cosmology. McCraney's script takes the stories of Orishas from Yoruba folklore and turns them into real human beings that live and walk in America here and now. This show tells an unexpected story that charts a young girl's thrust into womanhood. Audiences will be introduced the fast and spirited Oya. She is a promising young athlete who is offered a scholarship that could jump-start her future. Forced to choose between her dying mother and her own dreams, she makes a life-changing decision. Oya's subsequent path to womanhood leads her to a crossroads where she finds herself torn between settling down or just settling. With many around her standing in her way, audiences will wonder how far the fast and beautiful Oya will go to make a mark in the world. Set in the "distant present" of the fictional projects of San Pere, Louisiana; this show will be a distinctive experience for Columbia theatre-goers.

 

Trustus Theatre plans on producing all three of McCraney's plays from The Brother/Sister Plays over the next three seasons with Trustus Co-Artistic Director Chad Henderson at the helm of these projects. "McCraney's work has had a great influence on me as a theatre artist," said Henderson. "When I saw In the Red and Brown Water at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre in 2010, I was instantly engaged with the unique structure of the script, the brilliant use of mythology to tell a modern story, and the adventurous and highly theatrical use of non-traditional staging. I couldn't get enough of it, and yearned for more. I'm thrilled that Trustus is producing this trilogy, and that we'll be introducing South Carolina to Mr. McCraney's work and his bold world that exists in these plays." This show stands as a testament to Trustus' commitment to bringing the best and most innovative American scripts to Midlands audiences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Rob Sprankle. (Left to right) Trustus Company Member Kendrick Marion (Shango), Jabar Hankins (Ogun Size), Annette Grevious (Mama Moja), and Trustus Company Member 

Avery Bateman (Oya).

 

McCraney's script calls for a cast with unique skills. While the language of the script is constructed with poetry, it is still the language of a modern America albeit in a heightened form. The cast must also create vocal compositions that underscore and transition the action of the play as well as telling parts of the story through stylized movement. Director Chad Henderson has assembled a daring cast for this production including Trustus Company Members Avery Bateman (Oya), Katrina Blanding (Aunt Elegua), Kevin Bush (Oo Li Roon), and Kendrick Marion (Shango). The cast is rounded out by talented performers Bakari Lebby (Elegba), Jabar Hankins (Ogun Size), Annette Grevious (Mama Moja), Latrelle Brennan (Shun), Felicia Meyers (Nia), and Leroy Kelly (Egungun).

 

In the Red and Brown Water also boasts a talented design team with local artist Kimi Maeda creating the scenic design, Marc Hurst crafting the lighting design, Amy Brower fashioning the costume design, and Jeremy Polley generating the sound design. Act Two will also feature hip-hop mixes by local musician Preach Jacobs.

 

TALK BACK TO FOLLOW MATINEE ON FEBRUARY t, 2015

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

TARELL ALVIN McCRANEY

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

McCraney was born and raised in Liberty City, the inner city area of Miami, Florida. He graduated from the New World School of the Arts High School, with the Exemplary Artist Award and the Dean Award in Theater in 1999, matriculated into the Theater School at DePaul University in Chicago graduating with the Sarah Siddons Award and a BFA in Acting 2003. He attended the British American Drama Academy (BADA) Mid-Summer at Oxford, studying Shakespeare with master actors and teachers from the Royal Shakespeare Company and around the UK. His Masters Degree in Fine Art is from the Yale School of Drama in playwriting 2007; he received the Cole Porter Award upon graduating. In 2013 he was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship "Genius Grant." He is a member of New Dramatists and Teo Castellanos/D-Projects in Miami. He is also a member of Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, IL.

ONE NIGHT ONLY!

 

Join us for a truly unique theatrical event as five new 10-minute shows are written and produced in 24 hours. Our brave playwrights will start writing at 8pm on Saturday the 23rd, and these shows will be directed and produced throughout the day on Aug 24th. At 8pm on Aug. 24th, twenty actors will take the 

stage to bring you five new shows.

Expect the unexpected!

 

Playwrights:  Dean Poynor, Randall David Cook, Sarah Hammond, Michael Thomas Downey, and Robbie Robertson

Directors:  Larry Hembree, Dewey Scott-Wiley, Robert Richmond, Heather Leigh, and Elena Martínez-Vidal

Cast members Terrance Henderson, Avery Bateman, 

G. Scott Wild,  Marybeth Gorman, and Luke Melnyk. Photo by Jonathan Sharpe.

 

"RAGTIME", The Musical

Setpember 13- October 5, 2013

Direction by Chad Henderson

Choreography by Terrance Henderson

Music Direction by Jeremy Polley

 

Columbia, SC's, Trustus Theatre, is beginning its 29th season withRagtime(The Musical) an epic show based on the distinguished novel by E.L. Doctorow. The show features a cast of 31 talented performers, one of the largest in Trustus history. Ragtime (The Musical) opens on the Thigpen Main Stage Friday September 13th at 8:00pm, and runs through Saturday October 5th, 2013. Tickets may be purchased at www.trustus.org.

 

Called "a triumph for the stage" by Time Magazine and "the best musical in twenty years" by the International Herald Tribune, this acclaimed musical won the 1998 Tony Awards for Best Score, Book and Orchestrations, and won both the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical and Best Score.

 

Ragtime is not only a powerful portrait of life in turn-of-the-century America, but a relevant tale for today. Written by the award-winning composer/lyricist team of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (Once on this Island, Seussical, and Lucky Stiff), noted playwright Terrence McNally, (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Master Class). Based on E.L. Doctorow's distinguished novel, Ragtime, The 

Musical transports us to 1906. First, we visit New Rochelle, New York to meet a well-to-do white family: Mother, Father, their son Edgar, Mother's Younger Brother, and Grandfather. Next, we go to Harlem to meet Coalhouse Walker Jr., a ragtime pianist, and his admirers. Immigrants arrive at Ellis Island and we meet Tateh, an artist who makes silhouettes, and his little girl. These characters' lives intertwine as an epic battle for humanity and justice courses through New York City in the era of ragtime music, asking what the pursuit of the American dream means. 

 

Trustus Company Member Chad Henderson (2012 Jasper Magazine Artist of the Year in Theatre) is at the helm of this larger-than-life production as he directs a cast of over 30 talented performers from the Midlands along with the imaginative choreography of Terrance Henderson. "This is a large scale show for Trustus, without a doubt," says Director Chad Henderson. "This production has been made rich by working with a truly gifted cast. Many of these actors are musicians in their own right, and they're breathing so much life into these characters and this celebrated music."