THIS BITTER EARTH Comes to TheaterWorks Hartford This Month

TheaterWorks Hartford will present THIS BITTER EARTH from 2018 Relentless Award-winning playwright Harrison David Rivers. Directed by David Mendizábal, this new play centers on a multi-racial gay couple whose deep love is challenged by divisive political realities. Running February 16-March 20 in-person, with an opening on February 20, and streaming on demand March 7-20, This Bitter Earth stars Tom Holcomb and Damian Jermaine Thompson. Tickets are now on sale at www.twhartford.org.

Jesse (Thompson), an introspective black playwright, finds his choices called into question when his boyfriend, Neil (Holcomb), a white Black Lives Matter activist, calls him out for his political apathy. As passions and priorities collide, this couple is forced to reckon with issues of race, class, and the bravery it takes to love out loud.

Playwright Harrison David Rivers remarks, "When first commissioned to write THIS BITTER EARTH, I was asked, 'Can you talk about what it's like to move about the world in a Black body during these times?' In 2021, the same question is still being asked, and an answer is still hard to find. What has carried through, though, is the importance of moments of love - large and small - between the moments of struggle. This Bitter Earth is a love story about two men finding each other and finding their voices in an extremely challenging time, and the ways in which their love changes them forever."

Director David Mandizábal commented, "We live in a time in which all of our choices are politicized within an imaginary binary. Likewise, many of our society's systems uphold a polarized "black or white" way of thinking, created to highlight and enforce our differences. But it is in the gray areas - where two truths exist in the same breath - that we have the potential to find real understanding and recognize the multitudinous intersections of our own humanity. Revisiting this play in 2022, after more than two years of loss, uncertainty, isolation and a long overdue reckoning, set off by a global pandemic and the continued violence against Black bodies, I'm struck by the poignancy of this work to reflect both the past and the current dilemmas we face as a society."

Performances of THIS BITTER EARTH will take place February 16 - March 20, 2022, at TheaterWorks Hartford's beloved home, located at 233 Pearl Street, Hartford, CT. Critics are welcome starting Sunday, February 20.

The performance schedule is Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30pm and Fridays and Saturdays 2:30pm and 8pm with no 2:30pm performance on February 19, and additional performances at 2:30pm on March 10 and 17.

In-person tickets are priced at $25-$65. On demand streaming tickets, priced at $20, are available March 7-20. All tickets can be purchased online at twhartford.org or by calling 860.527.7838.

THIS BITTER EARTH contains partial nudity and mature language/themes. The running time is 100 minutes with no intermission.

TheaterWorks Hartford is a fully vaccinated house and requires all patrons to show proof of vaccination and to be fully masked inside the building.

Please visit twhartford.org for more information.

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