Photo Flash: San Francisco Playhouse and Lorraine Hansberry Theatre Present [hieroglyph]

San Francisco Playhouse and Lorraine Hansberry Theatre present a co-production of the new play [hieroglyph] by Erika Dickerson-Despenza. The cast features Jamella Cross, Safiya Fredericks, Khary L. Moye, and Anna Marie Sharpe. All actors appear courtesy of Actors' Equity Association. The work is directed by Margo Hall, marking Lorraine Hansberry Theatre's first staged production since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the first production Hall has directed for the company since taking the helm in September 2020.

[hieroglyph], fully produced and filmed on stage at San Francisco Playhouse, is presented as an on-demand video stream from March 13th through April 3rd, 2021. Patrons may support the organization of their choice by purchasing tickets ($15 - $100) from Lorraine Hansberry Theatre at lhtsf.org or from San Francisco Playhouse at sfplayhouse.org.

The compelling drama [hieroglyph] follows 13-year-old Davis, involuntarily displaced in Chicago two months post-Katrina, where she wrestles with the cultural landscape of a new city and school community while secretly coping with the PTSD of an assault at the Superdome. With her mother still in New Orleans committed to the fight for Black land ownership and her father committed to starting a new life in the Midwest, divorce threatens to further separate a family already torn apart. Will Davis be left hanging in the balance?

[hieroglyph] traverses the intersection of environmental racism, sexual violence, and displacement, examining the psychological effects of a state-sanctioned man-made disaster on the most vulnerable members of the Katrina diaspora. This work is part of award-winning playwright Dickerson-Despenza's planned 10-play Katrina Cycle of plays focused on the effects of Hurricane Katrina in and beyond New Orleans.