Meeya Davis

World Premiere by Katori Hall examines the lives of four half-sisters and how they deal with the passing of their mother.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater welcomed Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad with Event Chair and Arena Stage Board member Shawna Watley (Senior Policy Advisor with Holland & Knight) as the Honorary Chair for THE BLOOD QUILT World Premiere Celebration last night, May 7, 2015. The new play by Katori Hall (The Mountaintop, Our Lady of Kibeho) is directed by Kamilah Forbes and runs now through June 7, 2015 in the Kreeger Theater. Scroll down for photos from the opening celebration!

It's evident upon meeting Nikiya Mathis and Afi Bijou to talk about their roles in Arena Stage's world premiere production of The Blood Quilt, currently in previews, how much they love what they do.  Some tangible evidence? The women gave up a good part of their dinner break on one of the final days of rehearsals to talk with me.  

Olivier Award-winning playwright Katori Hall returns to Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater with the world premiere of her most personal project to date-the fierce comedy-drama The Blood Quilt. Hall is an inaugural resident playwright of Arena Stage's American Voices New Play Institute, and The Blood Quilt is one of three plays from Hall receiving world premieres around the country this season. Hall reunites with director and Howard University alumna Kamilah Forbes (artistic director of the Hip-Hop Theater Festival) following their Broadway collaboration on The Mountaintop. The Blood Quilt runs April 24-June 7, 2015 in the Kreeger Theater. Check out a first look at the meet and greet below!

Olivier Award-winning playwright Katori Hall returns to Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater with the world premiere of her most personal project to date-the fierce comedy-drama The Blood Quilt. Hall is an inaugural resident playwright of Arena Stage's American Voices New Play Institute, and The Blood Quilt is one of three plays from Hall receiving world premieres around the country this season. Hall reunites with director and Howard University alumna Kamilah Forbes (artistic director of the Hip-Hop Theater Festival) following their Broadway collaboration on The Mountaintop. The Blood Quilt runs April 24-June 7, 2015 in the Kreeger Theater.

What if you could single-handedly fight off 100 men? Or if your wit was as sharp as the sword you carry? And you wrote poetry that could make any person weep? Wouldn't these attributes win you the affection of the woman you love? Not if you are Cyrano, whose oversized nose shames him into silence, believing no one could love him.

What if you could single-handedly fight off 100 men? Or if your wit was as sharp as the sword you carry? And you wrote poetry that could make any person weep? Wouldn't these attributes win you the affection of the woman you love? Not if you are Cyrano, whose oversized nose shames him into silence, believing no one could love him.