The Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga has committed to producing a nine-play cycle from Chicago-based playwright Reginald Edmund over the course of the next several seasons.
The cycle of plays, which Edmund refers to as The City of the Bayou Collection, is the playwright’s attempt at making a contemporary House of Atreus through an Afro-Surrealist lens.
The House of Atreus referring of course to the mythological cursed family line of ancient Greeks Agamemnon and Menelaus, who themselves have been the protagonists to many Greek tragedies.
Reginald Edmunds credits include co-founding and serving as the Managing Curating Producer for the Black Lives, Black Words International Project, resident playwright at the Tamasha Theatre in London, an Alumni Resident Playwright with Chicago Dramatists theatre and an Artistic Associate with Pegasus Theatre – Chicago.
“I thought it was an amazingly brilliant idea for the Chattanooga Theatre Centre to commit to the presentation of the entire canon of August Wilson plays, it was inspiring to us an organization to follow suit and look for our own cycle of plays that would allow ETC show its commitment to diversity and to the telling of everyone’s stories,” say of Ensemble Theatre Executive Director Garry Lee Posey.
“ETC has a very specific style of presentation, and it was important to try and find a playwright with a style of storytelling that matches. Edmund’s plays evoke a theatricality and an engaging style presentation that seamlessly move through time and space and theme, maintaining a sense of suspense and intrigue that never seems trite or forced,” continues Posey.
ETC veteran Kashun Parks will helm Daughters of the Moon, the first play in the series.
“I’m excited that ETC asked me to direct this show. It’s haunting, beautiful, and profound,” Parks says.
This first play centers around Kokumo, a runaway slave girl and Julia Elizabeth, a plantation mistress, who are both wanted for the murder of Julia Elizabeth’s husband. The two escape the perilous South on a journey North toward freedom, guided by an Ancient African Goddess.
“The plot sounds simple enough, but Edmund’s way of delivering the story is anything but,” adds Posey.
Playwright Edmunds, in this first play of the series, employs a Greek chorus of four women known as the Winds who convey a bevy of characters as the story progresses from the deserts of Africa through the plantation fields of the South and up towards the seemingly progressive communities of the North.
The Sankofa Fund, ArtsBuild and The Starbucks Foundation have provided generous support for Daughters of the Moon and ETC is grateful for that support.
The cast consists of Erica Denise Richardson, Fallon Clark, Jessica Theiss, Sonibert Wood, Jacqueline “JJ” Hood, Autumn Allison, Megan Smith, Zoe Chatman, and Monica Ellison.
The production will run at Barking Legs September 16-18 and 22-24, Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 and Sunday at 2:30. Tickets are $20 for Student/Senior Citizens and $23 for General Admission if purchased online or $25 if purchased at the door.
For more information email etc@ensembletheatreofcahttanooga.com or call (423) 987-5141.