Searching For Willie Lynch at Sandrell Rivers Theater

Written and directed by Layon Gray.

SEARCHING FOR WILLIE LYNCH explores the haunting legacy of an alleged 1712 speech by Willie Lynch, a notorious slave owner on the James River in Virginia. The play examines the chilling methods he is said to have created to divide and control enslaved Africans, tactics whose echoes may still be felt generations later.

Set within the walls of a single Louisiana home, the story follows three families living in three different eras, 1930, 1965, and 2008. As buried tensions begin to surface, a mysterious door inside the house slowly reveals itself as more than just wood and hinges. It becomes a passage through time, uncovering secrets long hidden and connecting lives across generations.

As the past and present collide, the truth behind the house, and the legacy it carries, begins to emerge, forcing each generation to confront what was left behind… and what still remains.