Chocolate Covered Ants at Restoration Stage

WASHINGTON D.C.: After receiving critical acclaim for its two sold out workshops in Maryland last year, Restoration Stage (in association with the Anacostia Playhouse) presents Chocolate Covered Ants; Steven A. Butler, Jr.’s intense drama about being Black and male in modern day America. Ripped from the headlines---and just in time for Black History Month, it’s a must see production from an emerging playwright with an important new voice.

THE PLOT: Psychologist and social worker, Dr. Adrienne Taylor (Suli Myrie) is engaged in an intense round of therapy sessions with an eclectic collection of Black men. Chocolate Covered Ants chronicles her research: an in-depth look at the Black man and the effects of a complex society on his mental, social, and physical survival. But as she journeys through the Black man’s mind, Dr. Taylor’s study takes an unexpected turn. The joys, pain, truths, and lies she encounters promise to affect not only her patients, but the good doctor herself.

Chocolate Covered Ants is written by Arena Stage Playwrights' Arena Playwright Steven A. Butler, Jr. (the first African-American man to be named to the program) and is directed by veteran local arts educator Courtney Baker-Oliver (Duke Ellington School of the Arts). Jivon Lee Jackson and Rikki Howie Lacewell are producers.

Chocolate Covered Ants features Suli Myrie, David Lamont Wilson, Clermon Acklin, Tillmon Figgs, Wilma Lynn Horton, Kandace Foreman, Christopher Ezell, MarQuis Fair, and Charles W. Harris, Jr.

Chocolate Covered Ants runs January 14-February 7, 2016 at Anacostia Playhouse located at 2020 Shannon Place, SE, Washington DC 20020.