Photos: THE WASH at Synchronicity Theatre

In June 2024, Synchronicity Theatre debuted the premiere of THE WASH written by Kelundra Smith and directed by Brenda Porter. The run of this special production will conitnue at Impact Theatre Atlanta begining July 11th until July 28th. Check out photos from Synchronicity's production below and get your tickets now for this National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere while you can!

The play is about "black laundresses in Atlanta [who] led a strike weeks before the International Cotton Exposition came to town. Demanding to set their own wages, the Atlanta Washerwomen’s Strike of 1881 was one of the largest interracial, organized labor strikes of the post-Civil War era. THE WASH offers an intimate and often funny look at ordinary women who went from workers to fighters– and won. It is no coincidence that the Atlanta Washerwomen’s Strike took place during the same year that Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary (ABFS), now Spelman College, was founded." 

"Much like millions of workers today, in the years following the Civil War, Black women in Atlanta were taking control of their own destinies by demanding fair pay for their labor and fighting for a quality education. In the play, the character Jewel, is attending classes at ABFS and bringing what she’s learning in the classroom back to the women in the laundry co-op where she lives and works. She wants to show that 'God can speak to a woman the same way as a man.' The strike had a reverberating affect around the state, with nurses, cooks other domestic workers from Rome to Savannah demanding a fair wage as a result of the women’s bravery."

Origins for the development of THE WASH were nurtured by Hush Harbor Lab and their mission to be “a brave space for the development and production of new and innovative digital, live, and multi-media performance work by Black Atlanta-based artists.” Clearly, THE WASH is "a powerful representation of women who come together to make change." 

Playwright Kelundra Smith says, “I am the daughter of Black southern parents who are the children of Black southern parents who were the children of Black southern parents. The geography and culture of the South form my being and inform my work. It looks like pine needles blowing in the breeze; smells like earth after the rain; sounds like jazz and gospel in equal measure; and tastes like collard greens with turkey necks. This is my American experience.” 

Photos: Synchronicity Theatre

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