The Genesis Festival is returning to Crossroads Theatre Next Month

The Genesis Festival is returning to Crossroads Theatre with six new productions that stand true to the theatre's history of telling stories that highlight issues and start conversations across ethnic, racial, and cultural spectrums. The week-long festival will be held in the performance studio of The New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC) and run from Apr 15 through Apr 23, 2022.

"What a joy to be producing the Genesis Festival live and in person once again," says Artistic Director Ricardo Khan. "With the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts, we are providing legacy artists as well as early-career playwrights valuable opportunities at Crossroads to each develop their work and their unique voice, all the while knowing that they are the reason Crossroads is here - to center and value their talents as innovative Black playwrights and creatives, and to bring their work to a whole new generation."

Tickets go on sale beginning Friday, March 18, and are $20 per person. All Genesis Festival events will be ASL-interpreted. The full schedule of events is below or for more information, visit Crossroadstheatrecompany.org.

This event is part of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance 2022 Stages Festival, made possible by support from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts; Bank of America; The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey; OceanFirst Foundation; New Jersey Historical Commission. www.njtheatrealliance.org/stages

The Genesis Festival: April 15- April 23, 2022

Friday, April 15 at 7pm

FOOTSOLDIER.

by Seret Scott

A new play from acclaimed director, Seret Scott, is inspired by her mother's experience as a civilian social worker with USAID, during the VietNam War, as well as Seret's experiences as an artist-activist in the Civil Rights Movement, 1969. Commissioned by the Court Theatre in Chicago, the play grapples with historical and timely issues.

Saturday, April 16 at 7pm

Sugarbelly and Other Tales My Father Told Me

By Guy Davis

Having captivated Crossroads audiences with his last tour-de-force, The Adventures of Fishy Waters, acclaimed blues musician and Grammy nominee Guy Davis returns with an all-new show called Sugarbelly and Other Tales My Father Told Me. Part tall tale, part Medicine Show, part mystery. Witness a bygone way of life breathing again, resurrected by field hollers and songs.

Tuesday, April 19 at 7pm

di.stance

By Gabriel Bámgbóa??é

di.stance presents a series of poems addressing our imaginaries of distance in their biographical, political, cultural, geographical, historical, psychological, and spiritual dimensions. The poems, in different ways, break open the stance from which our varied ideas or metaphors of distance are produced as powerful social constructs shaping the meanings that we ascribe to the experience of trauma and loss. Following the narratives of distance in a broad spectrum of social life experiences-distance from home, social distance in the context of health crises, virtual distance from the scenes of catastrophe, psychological distance from loved ones, spiritual distance in the crisis of faith, political distance in the context of war and order-the poems ask what forms of privilege or deprivation inform our appeal to the distance that shields us from the experiences of others.

Wednesday, April 20 at 7pm

The Mapmakers

By Abena P. A. Busia

Walking on water has never been easy: what miracle of love does it take to hold you up? How does a mother trace and then contain the histories of her scattered daughters? In her presentation of The Mapmakers, an epic poem in the making, poet Abena P.A. Busia shares the process of embarking on the journey to answer those questions, and the voices she is meeting on the way.

Friday, April 22 at 7pm

Inherent Resolve

By Richard Wesley

INHERENT RESOLVE tells the story of a group of veterans of the Afghanistan War, brought together for a ceremony in honor of their commanding officer, but the awful truth behind a heroic action for which they all received medals and high honors continues to haunt them nearly ten years after they have returned home.

Saturday, April 23 at 7pm

The Ballad of Debbie Walker

By Divinity Roxx

Divinity Roxx, a world-renowned bass player (Beyonce, Victor Wooten) brings her musical prowess and masterful storytelling to the theater in The Ballad of Debbie Walker, an origin story and nod to the name she received at birth. She weaves music and words with honesty, truth, and joy recounting her life as the precocious eldest child of teenage parents determined to make something of themselves and their children. She evolves from an angry, misguided teenager to a self-actualized young woman through her relationship with music and art. Her metamorphosis begins after she travels across the country to attend college. There, she casually picks up the bass guitar and discovers the master key that unlocks her world.