Season 3 (2020-2021)

Stories of Our Humanity

Now more than ever we need reminders that we are one human family.  However, one’s identities, values, and beliefs contribute to the current state of polarization that is happening worldwide, and unfortunately, keeping us from one another. The shows in our 3rd season will explore the human reaction when we are met with difference, uncertainty, prejudice, oppression, rebellion, and injustice. We continue to ask the question, “Are we who we think we are?”  We find good people doing bad things and bad people doing good things, and bystanders doing nothing.

Tulsa ’21: Black Wall Street

by Tara Brooke Watkins

Directed by Michelle Cullom

This original production about the history of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street, the 1921 Massacre, and the current experiences of Tulsa today as a result of this history will take us on an emotional ride through a variety of true stories. The play weaves the narrative of the historical account of the Massacre with true stories of people who live in Tulsa today. These stories were collected in the summer 2017 and are told by a company of all-black actors living in Tulsa. The historical stories were collected by Mary E. Jones Parrish in 1921 just weeks after the disastrous event. All stories are based on factual archival research found in newspapers, TU, and OSU-Tulsa.

Best of Enemies

By Mark St. Germain based on the book by Osha Gray Davidson

Directed by Kelli McLoud-Schingen

Based on the bestselling book by Osha Gray Davidson, BEST OF ENEMIES is a true story about the relationship between C.P. Ellis, a Grand Cyclops of the KKK, and Ann Atwater, an African-American civil rights activist, during the desegregation of the Durham, North Carolina, schools in 1971. BEST OF ENEMIES exposes the poison of prejudice in the hearts of Atwater and Ellis who, by facing each other, are forced to face the worst, and best, in themselves.

Live Rich, Die Poor

By Ann Perry Wallace

Directed by Darius Wallace  

Based on the life of Zora Neale Hurston, the brilliant writer from the Harlem Renaissance who gave us her seminal work Their Eyes Were Watching God comes an unapologetic look at her colorful life. Actress and writer Ann Perry Wallace re-imagines scenes from Hurston’s life; from her happy days in Eatonville, the devastating loss of her mother, hints of the lost years of wandering that she never spoke of, to arriving in New York and becoming a fixture within the writing Negro world of the Harlem Renaissance and even her falling out with her best friend Langston Hughes. This is a study of a woman who fought to live use every single gift while she yet lived. Her life has the power to instruct, inspire and illuminate. This show captures the vulnerable Zora we don’t often read about, and it asks us if we are living a way in which we are emptying ourselves out and using all of our gifts. Strap in and put yourself in Zora’s shoes as she confronts her life choices!