The Octoroon 1859 - Articles Page 1.8

Under the wise hands of John Rodaz, An Octoroon is going to be a show all too pressing for the contemporary theatre.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' AN OCTOROON is a play about the racist history of the United States and the continuing racial struggle we find ourselves in today. And it's funny.

The Area Stage Company invites us to take a glimpse into that era of racist complacency - and laugh at it.

Capital Stage will launch its 2017-18 Season: Future Tense with the Obie Award Winner and Sacramento Premiere of An Octoroon by Branden Jacob-Jenkins.

Pushing the limits of the Shaw Festival's mission, an edgy slave story from a different era is being presented in The Royal George Theatre. By the looks of it, Shaw's usual audiences are in for an eye opener. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (aka BJJ) has taken us on his own personal journey of frustrated playwright who takes the advice of his psychologist and writes a play as an homage to an obscure playwright Dion Boucicault. Boucicault's 1859 played entitled 'The Octoroon' has been transformed by BJJ into 'An Octoroon.' In doing so, BJJ creates a prologue of his own invention describing his personal journey in producing the original work, where no white actors would take on a the roles of evil white plantation and slave owners. 'The Octoroon' tells the story of a plantation that is on the brink of being sold, the original owner's sexual relations with a slave that produces an octoroon ( one who possesses 1/8 Negro blood), the threat of new found love, misogyny and the overall treatment of slaves.

Capital Stage will launch its 2017-18 Season: Future Tense with the Obie Award Winner and Sacramento Premiere of An Octoroon by Branden Jacob-Jenkins. This poignant adaptation of a 19th century anti-slavery melodrama will be directed by star of stage and screen, and UCLA's professor of Theatre, Film and Television, Judith Moreland. An Octoroon will be the first production of Capital Stage's 13th Season, and will run from August 30 - October 1, 2017 with a Press Opening on Saturday, September 2, 2017 at 8pm.

Goodman Theatre is proud to support Chicago's off-Loop theater companies Teatro Vista, Definition Theatre Company and Collaboraction as a producing partner on several high-profile productions this summer - two of which open this week.

Definition Theatre Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tyrone Phillips and Managing Director Neel McNeill, presents the first play of its 2017-2018 season, the Chicago premiere of An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Gloria, Appropriate), produced in association with Goodman Theatre. An Octoroon is directed by Goodman Theatre Resident Director Chuck Smith and runs now through August 20, 2017 in the Richard Christiansen Theater at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, as part of Definition's tenure in the Victory Gardens Resident Theater Program. The press opening was last night, July 24, and BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Definition Theatre Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tyrone Phillips and Managing Director Neel McNeill, announces casting for the first play of its 2017-2018 season, the Chicago premiere of An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Gloria, Appropriate), produced in association with Goodman Theatre.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company has announced its 2017-2018 season, which features six provocative plays that will lean into the current moment, speak truth to power, and galvanize conversations about the social and political questions gripping our country.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company announces its first production of Season 38, the remount of An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Nataki Garrett. The show will reunite the entire cast and production teams from Woolly's 2016 production and will run from July 18 to August 6, 2017.

Following an overwhelmingly positive response from critics and audiences, Berkeley Rep has announced that the West Coast premiere of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' An Octoroon will extend for an additional week. Originally scheduled to close on July 23, the provocative play will now run through Saturday, July 29.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced the West Coast premiere of An Octoroon written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and directed by Eric Ting will close out its season.

Definition Theatre Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tyrone Phillips and Managing Director Neel McNeill, announces casting for the first play of its 2017-2018 season, the Chicago premiere of An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Gloria, Appropriate), produced in association with Goodman Theatre.

ArtsWest Artistic Director Mathew Wright has announced his third season, running September 2017 through July 2018. Opening with Pulitzer Prize-winner Ayad Akhtar's THE WHO AND THE WHAT, the six-production season will feature five Seattle premieres and a Tony-award winning musical.

An Octoroon is a person who has one-eighth black heritage. In 1850s Louisiana, that meant they are automatically unclean and, ultimately, a slave. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins radically reimagines Dion Boucicault's 1859 play based upon a tragic and rather melodramatic love story between white plantation owner George and his uncle's illegitimate daughter Zoe. Entwined in this is the apparent financial ruin of the plantation, which leads to a series of racially motivated violent events.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced the West Coast premiere of An Octoroon written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and directed by Eric Ting will close out its season.

Capital Stage is proud to announce its 13th Season as Sacramento's home for professional thought provoking theatre. Producing Artistic Director Michael Stevenson has chosen a selection of award winners, comedies and dramas that will examine the promises and perils of our future, and our ever-increasing pace of living in the 21st century. This new season of stories explores today's unanswered questions, and examines our place in a world of constant change and disruption.

Definition Theatre Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tyrone Phillips and Managing Director Neel McNeill, announces the first play of its 2017-2018 season, the Chicago premiere of An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Gloria, Appropriate), produced in association with Goodman Theatre. An Octoroon is directed by Goodman Theatre Resident Director Chuck Smith and runs July 21 - August 20, 2017 in the Richard Christiansen Theater at Victory Gardens Theater as part of Definition's tenure in the Victory Gardens Resident Theater Program.

Those nice people from the North who are getting ready to create great theater are beaconing people from CLE to be their guests.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company has announced its 2017-2018 season, which features six provocative plays that will lean into the current moment, speak truth to power, and galvanize conversations about the social and political questions gripping our country.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company announces its first production of Season 38, the remount of An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Nataki Garrett. The show will reunite the entire cast and production teams from Woolly's 2016 production and will run from July 18 to August 6, 2017.

The Shaw Festival proudly announces casting for Artistic Director Tim Carroll's first season. The Shaw's 2017 ensemble is a mix of new faces and Festival favourites - each actor ready to entertain and excite audiences in this season's 11 productions.

Theater represents the era from which it comes! In 1859, when THE OCTOROON opened in New York, the United States was in racial chaos. The slaves of the South had been 'freed,' but, in reality, they weren't free from their years of enslavement. Yes, blacks, the only mass group of people who came to this country against their free will, were the center of much controversy.

Known for high-quality productions and successful collaboration with Kansas City and nationwide theatre companies, UMKC Theatre announces its 2016-17 season.