Actor's Express to Present CULLUD WATTAH by Erika Dickerson-Despenza Beginning Next Month

Actor's Express concludes its 35th anniversary season with the winner of the 2021 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, cullud wattah, a play about strength and survival in a family of women. It is 2016; it has been 936 days since Flint, Michigan has had clean water. As the sole provider for her daughters, sister, and elderly mother, third-generation GM employee Marion finds herself on the cusp of a promotion to management. When her sister begins participating in protests against the company for their role in poisoning the water, secrets emerge and tensions mount. This powerful play about the choices we make for the sake of survival is directed by AE's Associate Artistic Director, Amanda Washington.

According to Freddie Ashley, “To be blunt, cullud wattah is one of the most emotionally impactful plays I have ever seen or read, telling the story of a family of women who survive together through life's toughest trials. Their strength and perseverance are clarion calls to action and will leave you with a feeling like nothing you've experienced in a theatre before.” 

cullud wattah was developed during the Lark Play Development Center's 2018 Van Lier New Voices Fellowship tenure and received its first staged reading in October 2018 at Jackalope Theatre in Chicago. The play opened at The Public Theatre in NYC on November 17, 2021, under the direction of Candis C. Jones. This multi-award-winning, exhilarating play at its core is a story about women protecting women at all costs. This play explores themes such as environmental racism, Afro-surrealism, faith and survival.  New York Theatre Guide describes cullud wattah as a, “Soul-stirring masterwork.”

This ensemble cast features AE veterans Parris Sarter, Terry Henry and Marita McKee. Morgan Crumbly and Kerri Garrett both make their Actor's Express debut. Many moments of cullud wattah are expressed through music and dance, and Music Director Amanda Wansa Morgan has created an arrangement of the song “lead in thuh wattah” that will be used throughout this production.

 

ABOUT Amanda Washington

Amanda Washington is the Associate Artistic Director at Actor's Express. Last season, she directed the AE production of Sunset Baby and has produced three seasons of Amplify Podcast (Crossroads, Tucker's Cove and the forthcoming Sunset on the Dogwood City), hosted Raising the Curtain, and Assistant Directed the video production of Neat.  Other directing credits include 12 Angry Jurors, Panther Women: an for the Liberation, Everybody, and then he looked at me, Gem of the Ocean, Harlem Duet, and Metamorphoses. Amanda has been a part of the Theatrical Intimacy Education team since 2021. Learn more about Amanda at www.washingtonamanda.com

Washington says, “When I first read this script, I bonded with every character. I was reminded that life does not flow in steady currents of black and white but in waves of grey. To see these women bare their souls and forge their own path was electrifying. It made me ask if I was in this family's predicament, would I have made the same choices? To me, that is a prominent theme of the play. Have the courage to make a choice and live in the grey.”

 

ABOUT Erika Dickerson-Despenza

Erika Dickerson-Despenza is a Blk feminist poet-playwright, cultural worker, educator and grassroots organizer from Chicago, Illinois. She's the recipient of the 2019 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting/Fellowship at New Dramatists and was a 2018 Relentless Award Semifinalist. She's the 2019-2020 Tow Playwright-in-Residence at The Public Theater, a 2019 Writers' Gathering Jerusalem Writer-in-Residence, a 2019 New York Stage and Film Fellow-in-Residence, a 2019 New Harmony Project Writer-in-Residence, a 2018-2019 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow and was The Lark's 2018 Van Lier New Voices Fellow. Erika is a 2019-2020 member of Ars Nova Play Group and a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre's Obie-winning Youngblood collective. Her work has been developed at The Lark, Vineyard Arts Project, New York Stage and Film, Public Theater, Victory Gardens Theater, Fault Line Theatre and Jackalope Theatre. Current plays in development include: ocean's lip/ heavn's shore, took/tied, hung/split, shadow/land, and cullud wattah (2019 Kilroys List; Public Theater, 2020). In addition to this water tetralogy, Erika is developing a 10-play Katrina Cycle, including [hieroglyph] (2019 Kilroys List), focused on the effects of Hurricane Katrina and its state-sanctioned man-made disaster. 

 

ABOUT cullud wattah

Written by Erika Dickerson-Despenza

Directed by Amanda Washignton

September 23-October 15, 2023 at Actor's Express

cullud wattah begins previews September 21 and opens September 23. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday at 8 PM and Sundays at 2 PM. Tickets start at $20 and may be purchased online at actors-express.com or by calling 404-607-7469.

It is 2016, and it has been 936 days since Flint, Michigan has had clean water. As the sole provider for her daughters, sister, and elderly mother, third-generation GM employee Marion finds herself on the cusp of a promotion to management. When her sister begins participating in protests against the company for their role in poisoning the water, secrets emerge and tensions mount. This powerful play about the choices we make for the sake of survival was the winner of the 2021 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

 

PERFORMANCE DATES & TICKETS

Previews: Thursday-Friday, September 21-22, 2023 at 8 PM

Opening Night: September 23, 2023, at 8 PM

Regular Performances: September 24 - October 15, 2023

Wednesday-Saturday at 8 PM

Sundays at 2PM

 

Purchase tickets online at actors-express.com or by calling 404-607-7469.

Group pricing is available. For info, email tickets@actorsexpress.com.

 

Regular ticket prices start at $20.

Student tickets are always $20.

Discounts for seniors 65+, groups and active or retired military.

Ticket prices are subject to availability. Order early for best pricing.

 

CAST

 

The cast includes Morgan Crumbly (Plum), Marita McKee* (Marion), Kerrie Garrett* (Reesee), Terry Henry (Big Ma), and Parris Sarter (Ainee).

 

       

CREATIVE TEAM 

Amanda Washington - Director

Amanda Wansa Morgan - Music Director

Jelani Akil Jones - Choreographer

Lisa Watson*  - Stage Manager

Bailey McClure-Frank** - Scenic Designer

Katarina Kristensen  - Costume Designer

Toni Sterling - Lighting Designer

Mikaela Frasier - Sound Designer

Nick Battaglia  - Props Designer and Set Decoration

Seamus M. Bourne - Production Manager                           

English Brackett - Technical Director  

D. Connor McVey  - Production Electrician

 

*Appearing through an Agreement between this theatre, Actor's Express, and Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Major support is provided by the Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs. Major funding is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. This program is supported in part by the Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. GCA also receives support from its partner agency - the National Endowment for the Arts.

ABOUT ACTOR'S EXPRESS

Since its founding in 1988, Actor's Express has become the preeminent hub for dynamic, provocative and consistently outstanding theatre in Atlanta, presenting work that sparks personal transformations and catalyzes community conversations. We are committed to enacting Anti-Racist and Anti-Bias principles that create a diverse, inclusive, safe and brave space for artists and audiences. Actor's Express is located on the westside of Atlanta in the King Plow Arts Center at 887 W. Marietta Street, Suite J-107, Atlanta, Georgia 30318.