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WORD FOR WORD
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: David Hyry (415) 864-3547
[email protected]
Word for Word Performing Arts Company and Z Space To Stage
The Award Winning Edward P Jones' Short Story All Aunt Hagar's Children
All Aunt Hagar's Children
By Edward P. Jones
Directed by Stephanie Hunt; Assistant Director Margo Hall.
November 16 - December 11
(Previews November 16-18 press night November 19)
Z Space Main Stage
450 Florida St., SF 94110
Word for Word and Z Space stage the Pulitzer Prize winning author Edward P Jones' novel
All Aunt Hagar's Children opening November 19 (previews November 16-17-18) on San
Francisco’s Z Space Main Stage. Set in 1950s Washington, D.C. this Noir tale spotlights a
young Korean War vet who sets out to solve a murder and becomes entangled in a web of
family history. He is unsettled by another death—a young Jewish woman whose last words
haunt him and his investigation. Edward P. Jones evokes a neighborhood of vivid characters,
telling a story about the strength of family and the choices that shape our lives.
“Word for Word is proud to produce this short story: Jones’ mystery is subtle, haunting, and
filled with his dry humor.” remarks founding Artistic Director Susan Harloe. “Clues, questions,
and family secrets surface throughout, interweaving and dissembling.” All Aunt Hagar’s
Children is a story of neighborhood and community, and when taken within the context of the
whole of the book, is also a mirror of the Black Migration from the South to the North, and the
midcentury Jewish diaspora from Europe to the United States. Jones has caught the pulse of a
neighborhood in a big urban community, and has created a stunning, indelible story. His
writing is filled with empathy and imagination, and “radiate[s] decency, humanity, and an
abiding faith in human possibility.” (Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post) It is a perfect
story for America in 2016.
Directed by Stephanie Hunt with Assistant Director Margo Hall, the All Aunt Hagar's Children
ensemble includes Sheila Balter*, Velina Brown*, Margo Hall*, Kehinde Koyejo*, Khary Moye,
Joel Mullennix* and Jia Taylor. (*AEA) Designers of this All Aunt Hagar’s Children production
feature Sean Riley, Scenic Design; Jim Cave, Lighting; Drew Yerys, Sound; A. René Walker,
Costumes; and Jacquelyn Scott, Props.
The New York Times bestselling author, Edward P. Jones, has been awarded the Pulitzer
Prize for Fiction, the National Book Critics Circle award, the International IMPAC Dublin
Literary Award, and the Lannan Literary Award for The Known World; he also received a
MacArthur Fellowship in 2004. His first collection of stories, Lost in the City, won the
PEN/Hemingway Award and was short-listed for the National Book Award. His second
collection, All Aunt Hagar’s Children, was a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award. He has been
an instructor of fiction writing at a range of universities, including Princeton. He lives in
Washington, D.C.
Director/Actor bios:
Stephanie Hunt (Director and Charter Member of Word for Word) is a director, actor, and teacher. For
Word for Word, she directed the long-running, award-winning production of Tobias Wolff’s Bullet in the
Brain and Lady’s Dream as well as Cornell Woolrich’s noir thriller Angel Face. At the University of San
Francisco, she directed her adaptation of Alice Munro’s short story The View from Castle Rock. As an
actor, she has originated roles in stories by Upton Sinclair, Angela Carter, Tobias Wolff, Andrew Sean
Greer, Susan Glaspell, Virginia Woolf, and Colm Tóibín. In the Bay Area, Stephanie has acted at the
Magic Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Encore Theatre, Aurora Theatre, Campo Santo, and was a
founding member of the improv group Pulp Playhouse, which played at the Eureka Theater. Stephanie
holds an M.F.A. from American Conservatory Theater and a B.A. from San Francisco State University,
but originally she studied and performed at the Back Alley Theater on F Street and 7th NW in
Washington, DC.
Margo Hall (Assistant Director, Actor), award winning actor/director/playwright, is excited to be back as
a performer with Word for Word where she has directed, acted, and taught. Most recently, she was
seen onstage in Fences at California Shakespeare Theater, and directed Red Velvet for SF Playhouse.
Other credits include Gem of the Ocean, Fences and Seven Guitars for Marin Theater Company, Ah,
Wilderness! and Marcus or the Secret of Sweet at American Conservatory Theater, The Motherf*#ker
With the Hat for SF Playhouse, Twelfth Night, A Winter’s Tale, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Spunk
for California Shakespeare Theater and Trouble in Mind at the Aurora Theater . She is a founding
member of Campo Santo, and has directed, performed and collaborated on several new plays with
Naomi Iizuka, Jessica Hagedorn, Phillip Kan Gotanda, and Octavio Solis.
Sheila Balter, a Charter Member of Word for Word, last appeared as Lady Gregory in Colm Toibin’s
Silence on Word for Word’s France tour. She acts and directs many shows with the company and
beyond.
Velina Brown : actor, singer,director, co-artistic director of the Obie and Tony-award-winning San
Francisco Mime Troupe. Acts in theatres all over the Bay Area, plus film, television,voice over. Writes a
column for Theatre Bay Area: The Business of Show Biz named after her career/life coaching practice
for artists. Winner, BATCC Outstanding Principal Actress and Outstanding Supporting Actress (twice).
Thrilled to be working with Word for Word again.
Kehinde Koyejo has enjoyed acting professionally for over 15 years and is honored be a part of this
amazing group of artists assembled together to tell this beautifully complex story of Edward P. Jones'
"All Aunt Hagar's Children".
Khary L. Moye: Fresh off his recent runs of The Mountaintop (Contra Costa Civic Theatre) and Six
Degrees Of Separation (Custom Made Theatre), Khary is thrilled to be making his debut with Z Space
and Word for Word.
Joel Mullennix has been a long time collaborator with Word For Word as both an actor and director.
He has directed Stories by Tobias Wolff, Olive Kitteridge, You Know When The Men Are Gone and
Stories by Alice Munro, among many others, and has acted in a number of shows throughout the Bay
Area. He is very much looking forward to All Aunt Hagar’s Children.
Jia Taylor appeared in By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (Douglas Morrisson Theatre), The House That
Will Not Stand (Berkeley Repertory Theatre) and In the Heights (Palo Alto Players).
Word for Word Performing Arts Company, a program of Z Space, is an ensemble whose
mission is to tell great stories with elegant theatricality, staging performances of classic and
contemporary fiction. Founded in 1993 by Susan Harloe and JoAnne Winter, Word for Word
believes in the power of the short story to provide solace, compassion, and insight into our
daily lives.
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CALENDAR EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:
Word for Word Word for Word and Z Space stages the Pulitzer Prize winning author Edward
P Jones' Short Story All Aunt Hagar's Children, opening on November 19 on San Francisco’s
Z Space Main Stage. Set in 1950s Washington, D.C. this Noir tale spotlights a young black
Korean War vet who sets out to solve a murder and becomes entangled in a web of family
history. He is unsettled by another death—a young Jewish woman whose last words haunt him
and his investigation. Edward P. Jones evokes a neighborhood of vivid characters, telling a
story about the strength of family and the choices that shape our lives.
All Aunt Hagar's Children
By Edward P. Jones
Directed by Stephanie Hunt; Assistant Director Margo Hall.
Z Space Main Stage
450 Florida St., SF 94110
November 16 - December 11 ; Press night Nov. 19 (Previews Nov. 16-18)
Performances:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 7 pm,
Friday-Saturday 8 pm, Sunday 3 pm
Note: No shows 11/23-24 (Thanksgiving)
TBA (Special event: 12/1 Edward P. Jones, post-show conversation with audience & book signing)
Ticket prices: $33 - $58 with no additional fees; Previews $20,
Special event Dec 1 tickets TBA
Tickets:866.811.4111 or at www.zspace.org
In 2016 Z Space is making as many of our shows as possible FEE FREE. The face value of
the ticket is what you pay anytime, on our website or at the door.
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