My newest play Blood in Your Blood will be heard publicly for the very first time ever as part of Ma-Yi’s 2017 Fall LabFest next Monday. Once again I have a stellar team (how do I get so lucky? — seriously, now), and I’m so excited to share this play for the first time.
Details are below but beyond just plot and characters, this play could probably use a bit of context. Between A Power Play: Or, What’s-its-name, Tilda Swinton Betrayed Us, and a little one act I wrote called A Thing, it’s pretty clear that my playwriting post-2016 election has become more directly political. In particular, unseating ideas of white supremacy, male supremacy, and white male supremacy has sort of taken over my brain.
This play started when I was in residence this past January with Serenbe Playhouse who tasked visiting artists to create plays inspired by sites within Serenbe. During my time in that lovely, progressive, rural Georgia community, I sketched out a few scenes that took place under a tree. The scenes weren’t inspired just by the site; I wondered what had been in this idyllic environment before Serenbe existed. Were their secrets buried in this community’s origins? (It’s America, so, I mean, aren’t there always?) How do people live knowing the difficult, possibly violent history of the land they occupy? And with racism shoving itself into the foreground of every conversation these days, that’s what I’ve been writing about since January.
And about a dirty ol’ tree troll who talks about popping wood when young men sit on his face.
Come join us Monday! There’s something for everyone.
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Blood in Your Blood
by A. Rey Pamatmat
Directed by Ed Sylvanus Iskandar
Star-crossed lovers, fractured time, and a lusty troll are all connected to the violent, buried history of Cora’s family. In her quest to find out how, Cora discovers an enchanted tree that might have the answers tangled up in its roots. But once she digs up the past, what will she do with it?
with Alton Alburo, Wyatt Fenner, James Lloyd Reynolds, Maureen Sebastian, and Ching Valdes-Aran
Ma-Yi’s 2017 Fall LabFest
Ma-Yi Studio, 260 West 35th Street, Room 203
October 30 @ 7pm
Admission is free. Reservations are recommended. Please email chris@ma-yitheatre.org.