The American Theatre of Actors Presents RESURRECTION: Shedding Light On Forgotten Black History
Performances are February 8 – 12 at the American Theatre of Actors.
A century ago, a prosperous Black neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, perished at the hands of a violent white mob. Written and directed by Anne L. Thompson-Scretching, RESURRECTION pulls no punches in sharing a moment in African American history that will not be ignored any longer.
Imagine a community of great possibilities and prosperity built by African Americans for African Americans? And imagine it wiped off the face of the earth in 24 hours. In May of 1921, the Tulsa, Oklahoma neighborhood of Greenwood was a fully realized antidote to the racial oppression - a thriving community of commerce and family life to more than 10,000 residents. This apparently was too much for a racist white mob.
Greenwood was so promising, so vibrant that it became home to what was known as America's Black Wall Street. But what took years to build was erased in less than 24 hours by racial violence.
Anne L. Thompson-Scretching - in deeply moving and unapologetic prose, tells this story, that - for nearly a century - was allowed to be swept under the proverbial rug. Filmmaker Jordan Peele utilized this painful moment in history in his HBO series, Lovecraft Country, but it takes the 4x Jean Dalrymple Award winner and AUDELCO nominee for "You Shouldn't Have Told" to competently bring this dark chapter of American history to the stage.
Opening February 8 at the landmark American Theatre of Actors, the play features Matt Braddak, Ms. D, Courtney Everette, Rommell Sermons, Katie Trubetsky, Samantha Hernandez, Laquan Hailey, Jonathon Horton, Dave Hummel, Brandon Lee Johnson, Marsha St. Julien, Kevin Leonard, Joshuah Patriarco and Moses Sesay. Stage Manager: Mike Banks.
More than 600 businesses, 21 churches, 21 restaurants, 30 grocery stores, 2 movie theatres, 6 private airplanes, plus a hospital, bank, post office, schools, libraries, law offices, and even a bus system ceased to exist in one day in 1921. This is their story.
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