Photo courtesy of American Players Theater
Nat Turner in Jerusalem
As the COVID-19 pandemic grinds on, American Players Theatre knows that the show—or shows—still must go on. Once again, PBS Wisconsin is helping the Spring Green company, forced to cancel its entire 2020 season, to stay alive, albeit virtually.
In June, APT launched its first “Out of the Woods” series with a weekly Zoom schedule of five separate play readings of works by the likes of Chekhov, Shakespeare and Shaw as befits it classical heritage. Starting Nov. 6, the troupe will launch a second weekly series of three plays written and directed by and starring Black, indigenous and people of color, or BIPOCs in the current parlance.
“People who’ve been in our audience for a while will be very aware of our growing exploration of new voices, of new stories, of asking ourselves again and again what does it mean to be a classic? “ explains Brenda DeVita, APT’s artistic director. “It was always our hope that we would be able to produce a second series of play readings written by BIPOC writers, and created by BIPOC artists.”
Love, Feminism, Religion
The series kicks off Nov. 6 with The Sins of Sor Juana by Latina playwright Karen Zacarias, The play concerns itself with the then shocking behavior of Juana Inés de la Cruz (APT core company member Melisa Pereyra), a brilliant and controversial poet making waves in the Viceroy’s court of 17th century Mexico by writing about love, feminism, religion and other topics deemed inappropriate for women of the day. The Vicereine takes a particular liking to the poet, and in her husband’s mind nothing good can come of that. Jake Penner, advisory company member of Madison’s Forward Theater, directs.
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On Nov. 13 Black author Nathan Alan Davis’ Nat Turner in Jerusalem examines the last night in the life of Turner (company member La Shawn Banks), the famous revolutionary who led the 1831 slave insurrection in Virginia said to have hastened the onset of the American Civil War. Turner spends the night before his execution narrating his story to lawyer Thomas Gray (company member Nate Buger.) Gavin Lawrence, another company member, directs the production.
The season closes Nov. 20 with Smart People, a sharp and funny play by Black playwright Lydia R. Diamond that examines the days immediately prior to Barack Obama’s first election as president through the eyes of four Harvard University friends struggling with what supposedly has become a “post-racial” society, but really isn’t. Pereyra directs this one, which contains some profanity, as well as sexual situations and language.
Streaming through Year’s End
The play readings will post at 7 p.m. Central Time on their respective performance dates, and will stream for free on demand through Dec. 31 at pbswisconsin.org/apt. Each play will also stream in full at 7 p.m. CT on its premiere date on the PBS Wisconsin and APT Facebook pages for viewers to watch together. Despite pandemic restrictions, all three plays are part of APT’s continuing process of creative of development, DeVita says.
“It feels vital in this moment to keep pushing ourselves to understand more deeply what it means to be human,” she adds, “and to keep ourselves moving forward on our path toward a more equitable theater space, and a more equitable world.”
This latest “Out of the Woods” series joins other virtual content APT and its acting company have created, including the Words from the Woods poetry-reading series; Six Feet Apart: Conversations with the Core Company; and The Empty Box: Tales of Royal Screw Ups and/or Extraordinary Scene Chewing from the APT Core Company. These free videos can be viewed at americanplayers.org/news/video.
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