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STUDY GUIDE ANNIE BAKER WILL ENO ATHOL FUGARD BRANDEN JACOBS-JENKINS SUZAN-LORI PARKS 2016-17 SEASON THE DEATH OF THE LAST BLACK MAN IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD AKA THE NEGRO BOOK OF THE DEAD Suzan-Lori Parks DIRECTED BY Lileana Blain-Cruz BY TABLE OF CONTENTS Synopsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Playwright Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Suzan-Lori Parks: Selected Production History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Interview with Suzan-Lori Parks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Further Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Cast & Creative Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Playwright Bio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Cast Bios. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Creative Team Bios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Supplemental Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 About Signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 SYNOPSIS FOR YEARS, BLACK MAN WITH WATERMELON HAS DIED OVER AND OVER AGAIN. He is electrocuted in the town square, falls from a building, and drowns in a river, among other deaths. Each time, he comes back home to his wife, Black Woman With Fried Drumstick. But on this day, something is different. Black Man With Watermelon is dying for the last time, and Black Woman With Fried Drumstick must help him find his final resting place. Helped by a collection of figures from history and popular culture, Black Woman With Fried Drumstick helps Black Man With Watermelon die for the last time, and finds that his final resting place is living in a play called The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World AKA the Negro Book of the Dead. 4 PLAYWRIGHT LETTER THE PLAY YOU ARE GOING TO SEE ISN’T LINEAR. The story isn’t going to unfold for you like A B C D, especially in 2016. Stories no longer unfold A B C D. Don’t go in there expecting to be served a meal from your mommy’s spoon. We don’t do that in this show. The story might go A X X Y Y M Q B B B B B B C R - The end. Like that. Go in there expecting to see the stories come at you from all sides. It is confusing, like the world is. They talk a lot about history in the play, and his tree, and how Black Man With Watermelon is hanging from a tree. And Black Woman With Fried Drumstick wants the man to eat some dinner. She is trying to see if the world really makes sense anymore so she starts breaking eggs, and eggs are still breaking…so the world must still be here. Then she realizes Black Man With Watermelon is, in fact, dead so she wants him to eat feathers. And he doesn’t want to eat feathers because he’s feeling alive for the first time in the play. And he’s ready to live, which of course the light is bright and it’s gonna go out. Another big part of the play, which is very important, is that it’s like a funeral mass. You know how when someone passes away we have a memorial service? This play is very much a memorial service for Black Man With Watermelon, who is the last black man in the whole entire world. And the characters come together to celebrate him and to help him find a resting place. In theatre, writing a play structured like this is basically writing a request. It’s asking, “At certain points in the future, I would like a group of 11 actors of color to come together and sing.” This play is actually an opportunity for 11 actors of color to come together and get hired to sing and enjoy each other’s company and present themselves to the world. Afterwards, ask yourself some questions. Now, how does that track in your life? Could you feel the language? Did the language make an impression on you? Are there any things that you can remember the characters saying? Are there any things going on stage that reminded you of current events? Are there any things on stage that the characters are going through that remind you of your life? It would be interesting for you all to get together in small groups afterwards - try to tell the story to yourself while you’re watching the play. What’s the story? What happens and what happens and what happens and what happens? This play – it is confusing, it’s not linear, it’s not like a tight two minute song on the radio. It requires a little more of your attention, but it holds keys to who we are and where we’ve been and where we’re going. -Suzan-Lori Parks 5 SUZAN-LORI PARKS: SELECTED PRODUCTION HISTORY SUZAN-LORI PARKS PRODUCTION HISTORY • 1999 In the Blood premieres at The Public Theater. • 1984 The Sinner’s Place, Parks’ senior thesis play, is written at Mount Holyoke College. • 2000 Awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for Playwriting. • 1989 Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom premieres at BACA Downtown in Brooklyn. • 1990 Wins an Obie Award for Best New American Play for Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom. The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World premieres at BACA Downtown. Pickling, a radio play, is produced by New American Radio in New York. • 1992 Devotees in the Garden of Love is commissioned by the Humana Festival at the Actors Theatre of Louisville in Kentucky. • 1994 The America Play premieres at Yale Repertory Theatre as a co-production with The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival. • 2001 Awarded a MacArthur Foundation ‘Genius Grant’. Topdog/Underdog premieres at The Public Theater. • 2002 Becomes first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Topdog/Underdog, which also opens on Broadway at the Ambassador Theatre. • 2003 Parks’ novel, Getting Mother’s Body is published by Random House. • 2006-07 365 Days/365 Plays has its unprecedented rolling world premiere at theatres across the country. • 2012 The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess opens on Broadway. • 2014 Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) premieres at The Public Theater. • 1996 Venus premieres at Yale Repertory. Its subsequent performance at The Public Theater wins an Obie Award. 6 SUZAN-LORI PARKS AT SIGNATURE Signature is thrilled to begin the 2016-17 Season by welcoming Suzan-Lori Parks. Known for her form-bending plays that reconfigure ideas about language and time, Parks also holds the distinction of being the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, for her 2002 work Topdog/Underdog. The theatre of Parks comes from a myriad of inspirations: from history books and William Faulkner to Jazz and television, Parks’ plays use familiar roots to break new ground. 7 Read me by repetition. Saints and singing and a mission and an addition. Saints and singing and the petitions. The petition for a repetition. Saints and singing and their signing. Saints and singing and winning and Do not repeat yourself. -GERTRUDE STEIN, “SAINTS AND SINGING” “Jazz is the only music in which the same note can be played night after night but differently each time. It’s the hidden things, the subconscious that lies in the body and lets you know: you feel this, you play this.” – ORNETTE COLEMAN The holey little holes In my skin, Millions of little Secret graves, Filled with dead Feelings That won’t stay Dead. The hairy little hairs On my head, Millions of little Secret trees, Filled with dead Birds, That won’t stay Dead. When I die, I won’t stay Dead. -BOB KAUFMAN, “DOLOROUS ECHO,” And Noah drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. – GENESIS 9:21-22 8 QUOTES FROM SUZAN-LORI PARKS A black play recognizes the importance of the evidence of things unseen. A black play is too much. A black play can take you there. A black play is simple. A black play is complicated. A black play is ALL THAT. A black play is a piece of work. A black play is worth the price of admission. A black play is free. Peace and power to the people. – SUZAN-LORI PARKS, “NEW BLACK MATH” Language is a physical act Language is a physical act – something that involves yr whole bod. Write with yr whole bod. Read with yr whole bod. Wake up. I say you’re either part of the problem or part of the power — what do you want to be? Art is a force for cultural change. ‘Repetition and Revision’ is a concept integral to the Jazz esthetic in which the composer or performer will write or play a musical phrase once and again and again; etc.—with each revisit the phrase is slightly revised. ‘Rep & Rev’ as I call it is a central element in my work; through its use I’m working to create a dramatic text that departs from the traditional linear narrative style to look and sound more like a musical score…How does this ‘Rep & Rev’—a literal incorporation of the past—impact on the creation of a theatrical experience? When I wrote this play I was listening to a lot of Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come, which is a brilliant, brilliant album - and it very much has some jazz motifs in it. So the play does as well. It dovetails very much with current language today. This street language, urban language, creative language that we use. But it’s also dovetailing with some of the difficult current events that are going on in our country today. One day I was taking a nap. I woke up and stared at the wall: still sort of dreaming. Written up there between the window and the wall were the words, “This is the death of the last negro man in the whole entire world.” Written up there in black vapor. I said to myself, “You should write that down,” so I went over to my desk and wrote it down. Those words and my reaction to them became a play. – SUZAN-LORI PARKS, “POSSESSION” Go in there expecting to see the stories come at you from all sides. It is confusing, like the world is. Think of poet’s theatre, slam poetry, hip hop, like a poetry slam…this isn’t your mother’s theatre, or your father’s, but it might be your daddy’s! 9 1 2 3 4 QUOTES FROM THE PLAY 1: BLACK MAN WITH WATERMELON: The black man bursts into flames. The black man bursts into blames. Whose fault is it? 2: BLACK WOMAN WITH FRIED DRUMSTICK: Your days work aint like any others day work: you bring your tree branch home. 3: YES AND GREENS BLACK-EYED PEAS AND CORNBREAD: You should write it down because if you dont write it down then they will come along and tell the future that we did not exist. 4: LOTS OF GREASE AND LOTS OF PORK: In the future when they came along I meeting them. On thuh coast. 10 5 QUOTES FROM THE PLAY 6 5: HAM: …And from that seed comed All Us. 6: QUEEN-THEN-PHARAOH-HATSHEPSUT: I left my mark on all I made. My son erase his mothers mark. 7: PRUNES & PRISMS: Say ‘prunes and prisms’ 40 times each day and youll cure your big lips. 8: OLD MAN RIVER JORDAN: He is dead he crosses thuh river. He jumps in thuh puddle have his clothing: ON. On thuh other side thuh mountin yo he dripply wet with soppin. Do drop be dripted? I say ‘yes.’ 7 8 11 9 10 QUOTES FROM THE PLAY 9: BEFORE COLUMBUS: Them thinking thuh worl was flat kept it roun. Them thinkin thuh sun revolved uhroun thuh earth kin kept them satellite-like. 10: AND BIGGER AND BIGGER AND BIGGER: Sir name Tom-us and Bigger be my christian name. Rise up out of uh made-up story in grown Bigger and Bigger. Too big for my own name. 11: VOICE ON THUH TEE V: Good evening. I’m Broad Caster. Headlining tonight: the news: is Gamble Major, the absolutely last living Negro man in the whole entire known world-is dead. 11 Collages by Costume Designer Montana Blanco. 12 INTERVIEW WITH THE PLAYWRIGHT Suzan-Lori Parks is not afraid of instability. Since the early 1990s, Parks has incited a revolution in the American theatre with plays that remix history, truth, fantasy, and fables; the worlds that she creates are built on controlled chaos. The first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Parks’ writing spans multiple genres, and while her oeuvre includes screenplays, novels, musicals, essays, and performance art, the most unifying aspect of her work is that each endeavor defies easy categorization. With a fluid sense of both time and narrative, Parks’ writings create a new history of their own. With Parks as Signature’s newest Residency One playwright, audiences will get the chance to immerse themselves in her writing over the course of the next year, starting with her early play, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World AKA the Negro Book of the Dead, an all-too-relevant work that evokes questions of family, legacy, violence, and peace. A few weeks before rehearsals began, Parks sat down with Literary Manager Jenna Clark Embrey to discuss how she became a writer, revisiting older work, and how the past becomes the future. Let’s start at the beginning. Where did you grow up? I grew up all over. My father was a career army officer, which some people call an army brat – whatever that means. I don’t know who coined that phrase, but we’re probably the least bratty people – kids who have parents in the service. And not because their parent is some kind of a gung-ho army person, it’s not that at all, we just know the importance of very simple things. Like when your dad would come home from work, while he’s out pretending that he’s in a war. We did travel around the country a lot. Every year we lived in a different place. We lived in Germany for quite a while. When I was a kid I went to German school, so I used to be completely fluent in German, which is handy because my fiancé is German. And I love the language. I consider myself a Texan, because my mom’s a West Texan, and we spent a lot of time hanging out in far west Texas. So, when I think of home I think of far west Texas. But I was born in Fort Knox, which is where they keep the gold – right down the road from Lincoln’s birthplace... draw conclusions for the dramaturgs in the audience and the scholars [laughs]. Yeah, right down the street from Lincoln’s birthplace and 13 a place called Mammoth Cave. It’s very interesting to be born near such interesting things. We were moving around every year. So I’m from all over – or what would Johnny Cash say? [sings] “I’m from everywhere, man, I’m from everywhere.” How did you become a writer? I suppose I became a writer because I loved writing. I have absolutely no idea. Meaning, there are no writers in my family, like “my mother was a writer.” No, no. My mother was a professor, my dad was an army officer and then a professor, but they weren’t creative writers. So none of that history in my own immediate family, or even in my slightly extended family. Although, there are lots of teachers and doctors and lawyers. But no writers, no painters, no musicians. I have absolutely no idea how I became a writer. But I found myself one day underneath a piano because my parents had purchased this baby grand piano after my dad came back from Vietnam, because he wanted the children to play music. My sister and brother played outside a lot, and I spent most of the time under the piano hanging out, writing. I mean I loved to play, but I also loved to sit under the piano and write. My mom would come by, “What are you doing?” and I would say, “I’m writing my novel.” Then for Val- entine’s Day one year, my parents gave me a copy of James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time. I looked on the dust jacket and there was James Baldwin’s face, and he has these eyes, you know. And I thought, “Wow that’s cool.” I didn’t read the book of course, I was in fourth grade [laughs]. I was reading like A Wrinkle in Time and Harriet the Spy. But then ten years later, I was in James Baldwin’s very first creative writing class. There I was, I went to Mount Holyoke College and I loved creative writing. I think what it was, and I think what it is, is the writing pulls me into it. So there’s something about the act of writing, like the act of songmaking that is so...like it’s a funnel. And it pulls my energy. So I don’t say, “I’m going to be a writer because I have something to say.” I never had anything like that. I still don’t. I’m just like, “Wow, I just gahh, oh yo, I gotta write this!” Because there’s a funnel of energy, a cone of energy that’s like pulling me toward it. It’s always over here, which is why I have this tattoo which says “Ishvara-pranidhana va,” or one could say “go with the flow,” or “submit your will to the will of god,” and that’s the fastest way to enlightenment [laughs]. What led you to writing for the theatre? I wasn’t a playwright when I started with Mr. Baldwin, I was a short story writer, novelist, wrote songs. And then he suggested writing for the theatre, because when I read my short stories aloud in his class I was very animated. Like I would do what the stupid theatre people did, like “Laaa Laaaa Leyy! And Read Alouddd! And tell the characters and then paint the scene! And do all this stuff!” And these were short stories. So Mr. Baldwin said, “Ms. Parks, have you ever thought about writing for the theatre?” And gave me that look… I started writing for the theatre that day, that very day. So, he was very encouraging. I’ve had other people encourage me along the way, but he was the one I always felt like…that from Mr. Baldwin I got a golden kiss on the forehead. He wrote me an evaluation that said, “Suzan-Lori Parks is…” I forget what he wrote, but it’s a quote that still kind of makes me embarrassed. But it was very positive and very affirming. He thought I might amount to something as an artist. There’s a quote that Abraham Lincoln said, “Someone thought well of me when I was a young man, and I didn’t have the heart to let him down.” And that’s what I felt. James Baldwin thought something of me when I was a young person, and I didn’t have the heart to let him down, and I still don’t have the heart to let him down. So, here I am [laughs]! 14 What are you looking forward to in your residency here at Signature? Seeing how the landscape has changed since I initially created and had these plays produced. That’s interesting. I mean it was such a surprise with The Death of the Last Black Man, seeing how it’s become more rich. I’m looking forward to seeing how the landscape has changed. It kind of feels like the culture’s caught up to the work which is really an amazing feeling. It’s like the work was a tree in the field and the culture has grown up around it, literally the up and coming artists that I’m working with on this project – there are some awesome established actors in our cast in Last Black Man, there are also some up and coming folks and they have literally come up around this play. So that’s exciting to see how the landscape has grown and also to do new things. How did Founding Artistic Director Jim Houghton approach you about joining Residency One, and doing a season of your plays? He rolled them all out at once. I think that was the way to do it. The whole idea of having a Residency One at Signature, to me, was like “No thanks,” because I go forward very well. I like to work, which to me means go forward and do things that are slightly beyond what I did last time around. It’s not by design but it’s kind of where my energy is. So when Jim came up to me and says, “How would you like a Residency One?” …that’s not something that I was really interested in doing. Then what happened? We were just sitting in the Waverly Diner and I could hear very loudly the voice in my head telling me the 500 really brilliant reasons why I didn’t need to do this. I’m sort of hearing my own reasons very clearly and I’m just listening to Jim say, “it might be good for you, it might be good for people…” You know, all the reasons why. And suddenly I stopped talking. I wasn’t talking talking, I was talking in my head. I stopped talking and I started listening. I just looked at him and I could hear very clearly, “This will be good for you.” Just like when James Baldwin said, “Have you ever tried writing for the theatre?” One of those voices. And it cut through – his generous offer, request, suggestion – cut through all the chatter in my head and I said, “I suppose we’ll just step forward on faith.” I said, “What would you like to see?” He smiled and said, “Oh, I might not be here,” and I, of course, said, “Of course you will.” And he isn’t and he is. Right? [Editor’s Note: Jim Houghton passed away on August 2, 2016, three days prior to this interview.] But I wanted him to choose, and again I wanted to stop talking and listen to what he wanted. Be- cause I thought, “I can’t give him more days on the planet or whatever, but I can give him this. I can give my work, what he might enjoy.” So he said Last Black Man and I was like... [gesture of bewilderment]. And so far it’s the smartest thing that I’m doing this year. The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World is the first play in your residency. How would you describe what the play is “about”? It’s about a man and his wife, and the man is dying. So it’s about them, but think of jazz music first of all, think of like free jazz – it moves like that. It’s not like a tidy, well-made play that we’re accustomed to seeing in traditional theatre. Think of poet’s theatre, slam poetry, hiphop, like a poetry slam. This man is dead and his wife is basically trying to find his final resting place. There’s a reoccurring question in the play: “Where’s he gonna go now that he done dieded?” And what they find at the end is that his final resting place is a play called The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World. It’s like a funeral mass in a way. What was the process of writing this play like, and then revisiting it now in 2016? I started writing this play in 1990. When I wrote this play I was listening to a lot of 15 Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come, which is a brilliant, brilliant album – and it very much has some jazz motifs in it. So the play does as well. It dovetails very much with current language today. This street language, urban language, creative language that we use. But it’s also dovetailing with some of the current events, the difficult current events that are going on in our country today. They weren’t so apparent and on the surface back in 1990. It was always there, but now it’s kind of on everybody’s Twitter feed. Revisiting this play now felt like, “Wow this is going to be cool, there’s more to this than I remember. There’s a lot to this.” It felt very current, it felt like I’d written it a couple of years ago. Because there’s this part in the play, this thing where the man is talking about how he can’t breathe. There’s a rope around his neck and he’s dying yet another death, and he says, “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.” And I’m just like, “oh, that sounds familiar...” The play was at [Brooklyn Arts Center Association Downtown] initially. Then we did another production at Yale. At BACA Downtown we had actors, we had brilliant actors, but the learning curve was very steep. These folks were brilliant, classically trained, downtown working actors – brilliant, brilliant, cool. The language of the play was very hip-hop, rhythmic, poetry slam language. Not on a lot of stages. Not asking actors to do this kind of stuff, so the learning curve was steep. Now, we just did auditions last month and got 11 amazing actors. Every actor who came into the room to audition was down with it! They were like, “Ohh!” We were sitting there going, “They totally get this!” Like no problem. Everybody came in with a familiarity and ease with it. It was in their body, it was in their hands, it was in their minds. They knew how to break it down. And I thought, “Oh wow, it’s like the world caught up in a way.” And through suggesting that we do The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, I think Jim wanted me to see that. That’s an incredible gift, to see that the world caught up – not caught up to you, but caught up to this thing you heard. You heard this and now we all can hear this. It’s very exciting. 16 FURTHER DISCUSSIONS • If you could retell the action of the play in three sentences or less, what would the story be? • What figures did you recognize in the play? Who or what did they remind you of? • This play was first written in 1989. What has changed in the world since then? How do you think seeing the play now, in 2016, is different than it was when it first premiered? • Some of the figures in the play have their roots in problematic images. How does this play use troubled history to make something new? • Does the play remind you of anything currently in the news? If the figures in the play could comment on current events, what might they say? 17 CAST & CREATIVE TEAM Production Stage Manager Terri K. Kohler SIGNATURE THEATRE Artistic Director Paige Evans Casting Telsey + Company, Karyn Casl, CSA Executive Director Erika Mallin Press Boneau/ Bryan-Brown Founder James Houghton THE DEATH OF THE LAST BLACK MAN IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD AKA THE NEGRO BOOK OF THE DEAD Associate Artistic Director Beth Whitaker Written by Suzan-Lori Parks General Manager Gilbert Medina Directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz Director of Development Jeralynn Miller Featuring William DeMeritt Nike Kadri Director of Marketing & Audience Services David Hatkoff Patrena Murray Reynaldo Piniella Julian Rozzell Director of Finance Jeffrey Bledsoe Roslyn Ruff Mirirai Sithole David Ryan Smith Director of Production and Facilities Paul Ziemer Daniel J. Watts Jamar Williams Amelia Workman Scenic Design Riccardo Hernandez Costume Design Montana Blanco Lighting Design Yi Zhao Sound Design Palmer Hefferan Projection Design Hannah Wasileski Wig Design Cookie Jordan Aerial Effects Paul Rubin Choreographer Raja Feather Kelly 18 PLAYWRIGHT BIO SUZAN-LORI PARKS PLAYWRIGHT For the Public Theater: Father Comes Home From The Wars - Parts 1, 2 & 3 (Pulitzer Prize Finalist), Watch Me Work, The Book of Grace, 365 Days/365 Plays (in conjunction with over 700 theatres worldwide) Topdog/Underdog, Fucking A, In the Blood (Pulitzer Prize Finalist), Venus, The America Play. On Broadway: The Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess, Topdog/Underdog. Other Off Broadway includes: Unchain My Heart: The Ray Charles Musical, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom. Film includes: Girl 6 (directed by Spike Lee), Their Eyes Were Watching God (produced by Oprah Winfrey), Anemone Me (produced by Christine Vachon & Todd Haynes). Suzan-Lori is the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama, and is a MacArthur Genius Award recipient. Other awards include: Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical (Porgy & Bess); The Gish Prize for Excellence in the Arts; Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama, Horton Foote Prize; OBIE Award for Playwriting: Best New American Play. Suzan-Lori teaches at New York University and serves at The Public Theater as its Master Writer Chair. She also currently performs Watch Me Work, a free, live-streamed, weekly writing workshop, open to artists of all disciplines. Her first novel, Getting Mother’s Body (Random House, 2003), includes songs and is set in the west Texas of her youth. She is currently developing a series for Amazon, and a musical adaptation of the film The Harder They Come. For more information visit SuzanLoriParks.com. 19 CAST BIOS WILLIAM DEMERITT (Voice on Thuh Tee V) Theatre: Sense & Sensibility (Dallas Theatre Center), Romeo & Juliet (Yale Rep), Liz Swados’ Violence Project (LaMaMa ETC), Edward II (Red Bull), Mom, How Did You Meet the Beatles? (The Public). Television: “Person of Interest,” “Law&Order:SVU,” “One Life to Live,” “The Outs” (Vimeo original). Film: HBO’s Emmy winning, The Normal Heart, The Lennon Report. Founding member OldSoundRoom performance ensemble. Creator/writer with Elia Monte-Brown of the one-man show, Origin Story. Audiobooks: Underground Airlines, The Wild Ones series. Faculty: Circle in the Square. Training: BADA, BFA Marymount Manhattan, MFA Yale Drama. www.oldsoundroom.com. www.williamdemeritt.com. (clockwise from the top) Julian Rozzell, Jamar Williams, David Ryan Smith, Mirirai Sithole, Patrena Murray, Reynaldo Piniella, Daniel J. Watts, Roslyn Ruff, Lileana Blain-Cruz, Suzan-Lori Parks, Nike Kadri, William DeMeritt, Amelia Workman. Photo by Gregory Costanzo. NIKE KADRI (Yes and Greens Black-Eyed Peas Cornbread) PATRENA MURRAY (Ham) Most recently seen as Fourth/ Off-Broadway: Iphigenia in Aulis at Classic Stage Company. Regional: Cardboard Piano at Actors Theatre of Louisville; Twelfth Night at Chicago Shakespeare; A Christmas Carol at McCarter Theatre; A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Guthrie Theater; A Christmas Story: The Musical at Ordway Center; Mary T. & Lizzy K. at Park Square Theatre; and The Secret Lives of Coats at Red Eye Theater. Directing/Playwright: The Missing Peace. Proud graduate of The University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater B.F.A. Actor Training Program. Thank you to my agents! The utmost praise to God and the deepest love to my parents and brothers who embolden me daily! www.nikekadri.com. Odyssey Dog in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Father Comes Home From The Wars (parts 1, 2, & 3) at the Mark Taper Forum and the American Repertory Theater. Some of her favorite roles have been Ermina in Crumbs From The Table Of Joy, Pantalone in The Green Bird, Exeter in Henry V, and Paulina in The Winter’s Tale. She earned her BFA from SUNY Purchase. Patrena has been a company member of the Irondale Ensemble Project for 20 years. She is grateful for this opportunity and hopes you have a blast watching the show. 20 CAST BIOS REYNALDO PINIELLA (And Bigger and Bigger and Bigger) ROSLYN RUFF (Black Woman with Fried Drumstick) Reynaldo Piniella was previously seen in Romeo & Juliet (Actors Theatre of Louisville), I & You (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), The Tempest (Classical Theatre of Harlem), The Erlkings (Theatre Row), Honky (Urban Stages), Tamer of Horses (Passage Theatre), Worldwide Plays Festival (59E59), The Toilet (New Federal Theatre), Fete (Abingdon Theatre), Facing Our Truth (National Black Theatre), The Great Recession, Future Anxiety (Flea Theater), Two Gentlemen of Verona (NY Fringe Fest), The Etymology of Bird (CityParks Summerstage), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Masterworks). TV credits include “The Carrie Diaries”, “Law & Order: SVU”, “Louie”, “NYC 22”, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”, “Us & Them”, “Flesh & Bone” and “Greenleaf”. Film credits include Broken City, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and “Masterclass with Kevin Spacey”. Follow him on Twitter @ReynaldoRey. www.reynaldopiniella.com. Broadway: All The Way, Romeo & Juliet, Fences. Off-Broadway: select credits include Familiar (Playwrights Horizons), Scenes from a Marriage (NYTW), The Piano Lesson (Signature Theatre – 2013 Lucille Lortel Award, Drama League nomination), Macbeth (TFANA), Seven Guitars (Signature – 2007 Obie Award), The Cherry Orchard (Classical Theatre of Harlem). Regional credits include work at Two River Theater, Berkeley Rep, Long Wharf, The Kennedy Center, Indiana Rep, Old Globe, Alliance Theatre, McCarter Theatre, ART, Yale Rep. Film: The Help, Salt, Life During Wartime, Rachel Getting Married. TV: “Madame Secretary,” “The Family,” “Doubt,” “Elementary,” “American Odyssey,” “Masters of Sex,” “The Big C.” JULIAN ROZZELL (Old Man River Jordan): Stew and Heidi Rodenwald’s The Total Bent (The Public), Suzan-Lori Parks’ Father Comes Home From The Wars directed by Jo Bonney (The Public/ART/Mark Taper Forum). The Vast Machine (Axis Theate), Baal directed by Alec Duffy. Regional: The Piano Lesson (The Arden Theater), No Exit with Imago Theater Company TV: recurring role on “Boardwalk Empire” as Harlan opposite Steve Buscemi, “Law and Order,” “The Breaks,” “Person Of Interest,” Marvel’s “Luke Cage.” MIRIRAI SITHOLE (Prunes and Prisms) Mother Courage and her Children at Classic Stage Company, The Hundred We Are, C.O.A.L. - Confessions of a Liar, Autumn’s Harvest (Lincoln Center Education). Regional: Remix 38 (Humana Festival) Our Town and Christmas Carol (Actors Theatre of Louisville). TV: “The Affair,” “Master of None.” “Broad City.” She received her BFA in theatre from Adelphi University and is an alumna of the Acting Apprentice program at Actors Theatre of Louisville. 21 CAST BIOS DAVID RYAN SMITH (Before Columbus) Broadway: One Man JAMAR WILLIAMS (Lots of Grease and Lots of Pork) Two Guvnors, Passing Strange. Off Broadway/NY Theater: The Glory of the World (BAM); Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors, Cymbeline and Pericles (Public Theater/NYSF); The Steadfast (Slant Theater Project); Marat/Sade (Classical Theater of Harlem); The Rover (NY Classical Theater); Waterwell’s #9. (59E59) Regional Theater: Actors Theatre of Louisville, Barrington Stage, American Conservatory Theater, Dallas Theater Center, Crossroads Theater, California Shakespeare Theater, Magic Theater, Cincinnati Shakespeare, Triad Stage, among others. Film: The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Bee Season. Education: BFA, University of Evansville; MFA, American Conservatory Theater. Off-Broadway: Invisible Thread (Dir. Diane Paulus), Broken Window Theory (Dir. Michele Shay). Regional: Cardboard Piano (Humana Festival), Witness Uganda (A.R.T), Hairspray, The Piano Lesson, (Santa Rosa Rep). Workshops/Readings: Directors Lab 2016 (Lincoln Center), Kill Floor (LCT3), Choir Boys (MTC). Tours: Theatre Works USA. Special thanks to God, my mom and sisters, M.A., Nicolosi & Co. I dedicate my work to the eternal memory of my Dad; Thank You for guiding me. Graduate of The University of North Carolina School of the Arts. DANIEL J. WATTS (Black Man with Watermelon) TV/FILM: Recurring roles as Freddy on NBC’s “Blindspot” & “Hannibal” on HBO’s Vinyl; “The Night Of” (HBO); “The Good Wife” (CBS); “Blue Bloods” (CBS); “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO); “Odd Mom Out” (Bravo); “Person of Interest” (CBS); “Broad City” (Comedy Central); “Smash” (NBC). Breakup at a Wedding; Among Brothers; & Freedom. BROADWAY: Hamilton; Motown; After Midnight; Ghost; In The Heights; Memphis; The Little Mermaid; The Color Purple. OFF-BROADWAY: Whorl Inside A Loop (2nd Stage). An accomplished spoken word artist, in 2012 Watts launched WattsWords Productions. Fusing spoken word with live music, song, dance and multimedia, he encourages audiences to focus on social similarities opposed to differences. BFA Graduate Elon University Music Theatre Program. 2011 Young Alumnus Award Recipient. For original work visit www.wattswords.com @dwattswords AMELIA WORKMAN (Queen-Then-Pharaoh Hatshepsut) Company member of The New Museum’s pop up repertory company X-ID; Leslye Headland’s The Layover (Second Stage); Laura Jacqumin’s Residence (Humana Festival); Phillip Ridley’s Tender Napalm (59E59); By The Way Meet Vera Stark (Goodman Theatre); Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (Ars Nova). Original company and international touring company of Young Jean Lee’s The Shipment. Frequent developer of new works at Playwrights Horizons, Yale Rep and New Dramatists. Recipient of Charles Bowden Award from New Dramatists 2016. Graduate of Fordham University. 22 CREATIVE TEAM BIOS LILEANA BLAIN-CRUZ (Director) Recent projects include Branden Jacobs-Jenkins War (LCT3, Yale Rep), Alice Birch’s Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. (Soho Rep), Lucas Hnath’s Red Speedo (New York Theater Workshop), Much Ado About Nothing (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Christina Anderson’s Hollow Roots (Under the Radar Festival at The Public Theater); a new translation of The Bakkhai (Fisher Center of Performing Arts at Bard College); A Guide to Kinship and Maybe Magic, a collaboration with Jacobs-Jenkins and choreographer Isabel Lewis (Dance New Amsterdam). Upcoming projects include a devised production of SALOME on Governor’s Island, Henry IV Part 1 at OSF, and The Bluest Eye at the Guthrie. RICCARDO HERNANDEZ (Scenic Designer) Broadway: The Gin Game; The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess; The People in the Picture (Studio 54); Caroline, or Change; Topdog/Underdog; Elaine Stritch at Liberty; Noise/Funk; Parade (Tony, Drama Desk noms.); The Tempest; Bells Are Ringing. Recent: Il Postino (L.A. Opera, PBS “Great Performances”), Philip Glass’ Appomattox (SFO), Lost Highway (London’s ENO/Young Vic), King Lear (TFANA), The Library (The Public Theater, directed by Steven Soderbergh), Ayad Akhtar’s The Invisible Hand (2015 Henry Hewes Design Award, NYTW), La Mouette (Cour D’Honneur, Avignon Festival), Châtelet Paris, Opera de Nice France, Oslo National Theater, The Dead (Abbey Theatre Dublin), Teatro Real Madrid. Yale School of Drama. MONTANA BLANCO (Costume Designer) Off-Broadway: Red Speedo, Nat Turner in Jerusalem (NYTW); Hamlet, Teenage Dick, Pretty Hunger (Public Theater); War (Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3); O, Earth (Foundry Theatre). Upcoming: The Bluest Eye (Guthrie Theater), Orange Julius (Rattlestick Theater), Madiba (Kennedy Center), Ghost Light (Lincoln Center Theatre/ LCT3). Education: Oberlin College & Conservatory of Music, Brown University, Yale School of Drama. montanaleviblanco.com YI ZHAO (Lighting Designer) is a Beijing-born, Parisraised and Brooklyn-based lighting designer for theater, opera, music and dance. Yi is pleased to make his Signature Theatre debut. Recent & upcoming: Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again., FUTURITY (Soho Rep.), Red Speedo (New York Theatre Workshop), When The Rain Stops Falling (Wilma Theater), Ouroboros Trilogy (Cutler Majestic in Boston), Henry IV Part 1, The Winter’s Tale (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Romeo & Juliet, The Christians (Dallas Theater Center), War, Assassins (Yale Repertory Theatre), The Bluest Eye (Guthrie Theatre). Recipient, 2016 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Theatre. yi-zhao.com PALMER HEFFERAN (Sound Designer) Select credits include Off-Broadway: Friend Art (Second Stage Uptown); Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. (Soho Rep); A Delicate Ship (Playwrights Realm); I Am The Wind (59E59); The Film Society (Keen Company). Regional: Romance Novels for Dummies (Williamstown); Tiger Style! (Alliance); Women Laughing Alone With Salad, Cherokee, and Guards at the Taj (Woolly Mammoth); Moment, Sorry, Regular Singing, Bad Jews and Edgar & Annabel (Studio Theatre); Twelfth Night (Center Stage); Pride 23 CREATIVE TEAM BIOS in the Falls of Autrey Mill (Signature Theatre DC). National Tour: Remarkably Normal (Advocates for Youth). MFA: Yale School of Drama. Love to Mom, Dad, and Ryan. HANNAH WASILESKI (Projection Designer) Hannah is a visual artist and projection designer whose work spans theater, opera, music and installation. Recent designs include: Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. (Soho Rep.), A Proust Sonata (Wortham Center), Angel’s Bone (Prototype Festival), The Wreckers (Bard SummerScape Opera). Albany Symphony’s American Music Festival (EMPAC), architectural projection design for La Celestina (Metropolitan Museum), The World is Round (BAM; Obie Award), Livin’ La Vida Imelda (Ma-Yi Theatre Company), Dear Elizabeth (Yale Rep & Berkeley Rep), Strange Tales of Liaozhai and My Life in a Nutshell (HERE Arts Center). Her video installations have been exhibited in London, Brighton, Glasgow, and Prague. COOKIE JORDAN (Wigs) Cookie Jordan is an Emmy nominated make up designer for her make up design of the Wiz live on NBC. Broadway: Eclipsed, Side Show, After Midnight, Fela, A View From the Bridge, Mother ..#** With the Hat, South Pacific. Off-Broadway: Marie and Rosetta, Troilus and Cressida (Shakespeare in the Park), The Total Bent, King Lear, Familiar, Eclipsed, Hir, Cloud Nine, Skeleton Crew, Gloria, Liquid Plain, Hurt Village, An Octoroon, Angels in America. Tours: Fela, (National tour) Fela, (European Tour) Dirty Dancing, Flash Dance (National tour). Television: Makeup designer NBC The Wiz Live. RAJA FEATHER KELLY (Choreographer) It’s his second season at The Signature Theatre! Credits: The Sandbox, Drowning, and Funnyhouse of a Negro (Signature) Directed by Lila Neugebauer. He is the artistic director of dance theater ensemble THE FEATH3R THEORY and a company member of Reggie Wilson/ Fist and Heel Performance Group. Featured as one of Dance Magazine’s ‘On The Rise’ Choreographers; 2016 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow for choreography; received the 2016 Solange MacArthur Award for New Choreog- raphy. www.thefeath3rtheory.com PAUL RUBIN (Aerial Effects). His career of choreographing flying sequences spans four decades and he is a member of The Academy of Magical Arts at The Magic Castle. Broadway: Wicked; Curtains with David Hyde Pierce; Frozen; The Pirate Queen; Cathy Rigby in Peter Pan; Kiss Me, Kate; Doctor Zhivago; The Green Bird; Dance of the Vampires; Fiddler on the Roof; and Saturday Night Fever. International/touring productions: Disney’s The Little Mermaid (Holland, Moscow, Tokyo and the U.S.), Tori Amos’ The Light Princess (National Theatre, London), Evolution touring China, Aladdin, West Coast premiere of Carrie, 9 to 5, Spamalot, Dora the Explorer LIVE, The SpongeBob Musical, Seussical the Musical and ScoobyDoo. www.TheFlyGuy.com Twitter @theflyguy TERRI K. KOHLER (Production Stage Manager) Signature: Cheri New York: Indecent (Vineyard Theatre), RED SPEEDO, Scenes From a Marriage, Belleville, The Black Eyed (New York Theatre Workshop), Mother Courage, Doctor Faustus, The 24 CREATIVE TEAM BIOS Caucasian Chalk Circle, The School for Lies, The Forest (CSC), Futurity (Soho Rep/Ars Nova), Washeteria, We are Proud...., Orange, Hat & Grace (Soho Rep), Pretty Filthy, In the Footprint, Paris Commune, The Great Immensity (Civilians), The Designated Mourner, In Darfur, (Public Theater), Garden of Earthly Delights , Angel Reapers (Conceived by Martha Clarke) (Signature),. Select Regional: Wild Swans (ART/ Young Vic), Oedipus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, La Dispute, The Sound of a Voice (ART). Usual Suspect (NYTW), Associate Artist, The Civilians RYAN GOHSMAN (Assistant Stage Manager) Off-Broadway/ NYC: Chéri (Signature); Here Lies Love (Public; consultant for National Theatre, London production); Antlia Pneumatica, Detroit, Maple and Vine, The Shaggs…, Kin, After the Revolution (Playwrights Horizons); Pretty Filthy (Civilians); HERE; Atlantic; Target Margin; Rattlestick; Cherry Lane; Clubbed Thumb; DreamWorks. Regional: Gotta Dance (preBroadway tryout, Chicago); Orpheus Descending (Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theatre Festival); two seasons at Barrington Stage. Opera: world premieres of The Last Hotel (Royal Opera House, Edinburgh International Festival, Dublin Theatre Festival, St. Ann’s Warehouse), The Ouroboros Trilogy: Gilgamesh, Naga, Madame White Snake (Beth Morrison Projects), Thumbprint, Sumeida’s Song (PROTOTYPE). Ryan is a proud member of AEA. CANDIS JONES (Assistant Director) Candis Jones is a theatre director and devised artist. She is the founder of Theater Yin Yin, an interdisciplinary theater collaborative. Recent credits include TEMBO! (DAT Tanzania, Zanzibar International Film Festival), The Tale of Chef Kale (United Solo Festival), Daughters of the Bayou (Weeksville Heritage Center, Theater Yin Yin), Vinyl Love Affair (Theater Yin Yin), Itagua Meji (National Black Theatre). She is the recipient of the NY Women’s Foundation Directing Apprenticeship Lilly Award, a current Drama League Fellow, and an associate of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Union. BFA: NYU Tisch Drama. www.candiscjones.com 25 SUPPLEMENTAL PROGRAMMING Learn about a work’s inspiration, ask questions of its creators, and deepen your understanding of the artistic process and the role of a theatre artist at the Center and beyond. Our free supplemental programming includes: TALKBACK SERIES PAGE TO STAGE Learn about the process of putting on a production, what it’s like to play the characters, what goes on behind the scenes, and much more in this post-show Q&A session with the cast and creative team. Talkbacks brought to you by American Express. Hear the full story on how artists transform an idea into a play through a moderated discussion with members of the Artistic Team. BOOK CLUB Delve into the context of a Signature playwright’s work by discussing a related book or play and explore theatre’s connection to other art forms through a guided discussion with Signature’s literary staff. BACKSTAGE PASS Get an inside look at the mechanics behind the magic in this pre-show discussion with one of the show’s designers. Learn how design shapes the audience experience and transforms a production. THE WORLD OF THE PLAY Explore cultural themes in the play and gain insight into the intellectual context for the work in this moderated discussion, featuring a panel of scholars, experts and artists. THE ART OF COLLABORATION Dig deep into the relationship of multiple artists to understand how their creative dynamic has changed over time in this pre-show conversation between longtime artistic collaborators. 26 SUPPLEMENTAL PROGRAMMING CALENDAR FOR THE DEATH OF THE LAST BLACK MAN IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD AKA THE NEGRO BOOK OF THE DEAD TALKBACKS BACKSTAGE PASS (Post-show on the Diamond Stage) Tuesday, November 1st Thursday, November 17th Tuesday, November 22nd Tuesday, November 29th (Pre-show) Wednesday, November 16th PARTICIPANTS: Costume Designer Montana Blanco PAGE TO STAGE (Pre-show) Thursday, November 10th PARTICIPANTS: Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks and Director Lileana Blain-Cruz 27 ABOUT SIGNATURE Signature Theatre exists to honor and celebrate the playwright. Founded in 1991 by James Houghton, Signature makes an extended commitment to a playwright’s body of work, and during this journey the writer is engaged in every aspect of the creative process. By championing in-depth explorations of a playwright’s body of work, Signature delivers an intimate and immersive journey into the playwright’s singular vision. Signature serves its mission through its permanent home at The Pershing Square Signature Center, a three-theatre facility on West 42nd Street designed by Frank Gehry Architects to host Signature’s three distinct playwrights’ residencies and foster a cultural community. At the Center, opened in January 2012, Signature continues its founding Playwright-in-Residence model as Residency One, a first-of-its-kind, intensive exploration of a single writer’s body of work. Residency Five, the only program of its kind, was launched at the Center to support multiple playwrights as they build bodies of work by guaranteeing each writer three productions over a five-year period. The Legacy Program, launched during Signature’s 10th Anniversary, invites writers from both residencies back for productions of premiere or earlier plays. The Pershing Square Signature Center is a major contribution to New York City’s cultural landscape and provides a venue for cultural organizations that supports and encourages collaboration among artists throughout the space. In addition to its three intimate theatres, the Center features a studio theatre, a rehearsal studio and a public café, bar and bookstore. Through the Signature Ticket Initiative: A Generation of Access, Signature has also made an unprecedented commitment to making its productions accessible by underwriting the cost of the initial run tickets, currently priced at $30, through 2031. Signature has presented entire seasons of the work of Edward Albee, Lee Blessing, Horton Foote, María Irene Fornés, Athol Fugard, John Guare, A. R. Gurney, David Henry Hwang, Bill Irwin, Adrienne Kennedy, Tony Kushner, Romulus Linney, Charles Mee, Arthur Miller, Sam Shepard, Paula Vogel, Naomi Wallace, August Wilson, Lanford Wilson and a season celebrating the historic Negro Ensemble Company. Signature’s current Residency One playwright is Suzan-Lori Parks; current Residency Five playwrights are Annie Baker, Martha Clarke, Will Eno, Katori Hall, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan and Regina Taylor; and current Legacy Playwright is Athol Fugard. Signature was the recipient of the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award®, and its productions and resident writers have been recognized with the Pulitzer Prize, Lucille Lortel Awards, Obie Awards, Drama Desk Awards, AUDELCO Awards, among many other distinctions. For more information, please visit signaturetheatre.org. 28