Playwright Erika Dickerson-Despenza Releases SHADOW/LAND Playlist - Listen Here!

To celebrate the upcoming production of shadow/land, playwright Erika Dickerson-Despenza has released a playlist. The production begins performances in the LuEsther Hall with a Joseph Papp Free Performance on Thursday, April 20 and runs through Sunday, May 21. shadow/land officially opens on Thursday, May 4.

According to a post on Despenza's Twitter account, the playlist is "50+ songs through which you can move through the entire play." She says, "Many of these songs were also on my writing playlist."

Listen to the playlist below!

Previously premiering as an audio play at The Public in 2021 as a part of virtual programming during the pandemic, shadow/land will make its live debut this spring. The stage production marks Dickerson-Despenza and Jones' return following the successful production of cullud wattah presented at The Public last season. The production begins performances in the LuEsther Hall with a Joseph Papp Free Performance on Thursday, April 20 and runs through Sunday, May 21. shadow/land officially opens on Thursday, May 4.

Erika Dickerson-Despenza is a Blk, queer feminist poet-playwright and cultural-memory worker from Chicago, Illinois. Awards: Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Finalist (2021), Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award (2020), Thom Thomas Award (2020), Lilly Award (2020), Barrie and Bernice Stavis Award (2020), Grist 50 Fixer (2020), Princess Grace Playwriting Award (2019). Residencies & Fellowships: Tow Playwright-in-Residence at The Public Theater (2019-2020), U.S. Water Alliance National Arts & Culture Delegate (2019), New York Stage and Film Fellow-in-Residence (2019), New Harmony Project Writer-in Residence (2019), Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow (2018-2019), The Lark Van Lier New Voices Fellow (2018). Communities: BYP100 Squad Member, Ars Nova Play Group (2019-2021), Youngblood Collective (EST). Commissions: The Public Theater, Studio Theatre & Williamstown Theatre Festival. Productions: CULLUD WATTAH (originally slated at The Public Theater, 2020; Victory Gardens Theater, 2021), [HIEROGLYPH] (San Francisco Playhouse/Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, 2021). Currently, Erika is developing a 10-play Katrina Cycle, including [HIEROGLYPH] and shadow/land, focused on the effects of Hurricane Katrina and its state-sanctioned, man-made disaster rippling in & beyond New Orleans.

The complete cast of shadow/land includes Joniece Abbott-Pratt (Ruth), Lynnette R. Freeman (Ruth Understudy), Perri Gaffney (Magalee Understudy), Lizan Mitchell (Magalee), Christine Shepard (Grand Marshal), and Joy-Marie Thompson (Grand Marshal Understudy).

Premiering as an audio play at The Public, 2021 Susan Blackburn Prize winner Erika Dickerson-Despenza's shadow/land returns in Spring 2023 with a stunning live production. As Hurricane Katrina begins her ruin, tensions between duty & desire surface, a levee is brought to its knees & Ruth must wrestle with all that she's ready to let go. shadow/land is a lyrical meditation on legacy, erotic fugitivity, and self-determination. Directed by Lilly Award winner Candis C. Jones, shadow/land is the first installment of a 10-play cycle traversing the Katrina diaspora in an examination of the ongoing effects of disaster, evacuation, displacement, and urban renewal rippling in and beyond New Orleans.

The production features scenic design by Jason Ardizzone-West; costume design by Azalea Fairley; lighting design by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew; sound design by Palmer Hefferan; hair, wig, and makeup design by Earon Chew Nealey;music composition by Delfeayo Marsalis; and intimacy direction by Ann James. Janelle Caso serves as production stage manager.

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