For Immediate Release
May 2015
Contact: Karen Allen-Baxter
401-863-1710
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Department of Africana Studies’ Rites and Reason Theatre
in association with
Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice
proudly presents
STRING THEORY
A new play by Ifa Bayeza – Directed by Carl Hancock Rux
Featuring The Marian Anderson String Quartet
Drawn from real-life accounts, an explosive new drama, gives living voice to the first Civil Rights case in America, the epic saga of La Amistad!
Rites and Reason Theatre in association with the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown invite the University community and the greater public to the extraordinary production of STRING THEORY, a new play by Distinguished Artist in Residence and RISCA fellow, Ifa Bayeza, in collaboration with OBIE and Bessie Award-winning director Carl Hancock Rux and the Cleveland Award-winning, Marian Anderson String Quartet (MASQ).
“This is an extraordinary collaboration at the university. Our partner, the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice has launched its Heimark artist-in-residency program, and the inaugural recipients are the Marian Anderson String Quartet. We thought this an ideal opportunity for MASQ to pair up with our resident playwright Ifa Bayeza on an interdisciplinary production of her new work, the seminal story of the 1839 Amistad slave ship rebellion.” says Department of Africana Studies’ Rites and Reason Theatre, Managing Director, Karen Allen Baxter.
“This is an incredible opportunity,” says Bayeza, “to revive the story of the Amistad. While there has been a major movie, an opera and much written about this saga, I have tried to let the actual characters in this remarkable story speak for themselves. I not only wanted to tell the Africans’ story, but also to champion the white Americans who made the moral choice to defend them.” Bayeza used first-person, contemporaneous accounts, such as newspaper articles, court transcripts, depositions, letters and journals to write the work. “I am struck by how these voices seem to transcend time to address us today,” she adds, “these Africans and Americans remind us again how much black lives matter.”
At the helm of the team is director, Carl Hancock Rux. “Rites and Reason is a vital laboratory for new work. I am honored to work with Ifa again, and MASQ’s contribution – a live score that blends European and African American classical selections with re-imagined Negro Spirituals and contemporary Jazz, makes this production well worth the trip up the hill.”
The multigenerational, multiracial cast includes from New York Patrick Ssenjovu as Cingbe Pieh, leader of Amistad rebellion; Shane Salk as abolitionist financier Louis Tappan; and local and student actors: Nako Adodoadji as the youngest African captive, nine year-old Sarah Margru Kinson; and in a non-traditional casting twist, Sylvia Ann Soares (Brown’95) as John Quincy Adams. Ensemble members include Prescott Hazel, Randy Biagas-Hill (Brown’17), Christopher Johnson, Elizabeth Keiser, Sam Lanier (Brown’16), Nathalie Mena (Brown’13), Michelle Miglioni (Brown’14), Eugene Negrete (Brown’15), Bill Oakes, Jason Quinn, Jaquan Stanley.
Play: STRING THEORY
Where:
Department of Africana Studies’ Rites and Reason Theatre
Churchill House – 155 Angell Street
George Houston Bass Performing Arts Space
Brown University, Providence RI 02912
When:
Wednesday – Friday, May 20-22 7:00PM
Saturday – May 23 11:00AM and 4:00PM
Price:
Free and open to all
INFORMATION
http://www.brown.edu/academics/africana-studies/events-programs
karen_baxter@brown.edu
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