Photos: First Look At CULLUD WATTAH At Actor's Express

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. See photos from the production. 

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 Asha Basha Duniani 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.