THE BALLAD OF EMMETT TILL dramatizes the final days of Emmett Till, a Chicago teenager who takes a fateful trip to Mississippi in the summer of 1955. It is the story of a quest, Emmett’s pursuit of happiness, of liberty and ultimately of life.
This is the first play in The Till Trilogy, a three-play cycle which includes BENEVOLENCE and THAT SUMMER IN SUMNER, exploring the epic saga of Emmett Till and the birth of the modern Civil Rights Movement.
ANTEBELLUM focuses on themes of social injustice as it intercuts between two alternate stories throughout the play: one which takes place in Atlanta in 1939, the other in Germany in 1936. The Atlanta plot-line centers on a young Jewish couple living in the South who dress up in Civil War era attire to attend the premiere of Gone with the Wind. In Berlin, a Third Reich officer at a Nazi death camp is in love with his prisoner, a Black, male cabaret performer, yet still allows him to be tortured.
THAT SUMMER IN SUMNER is the middle drama in The Till Trilogy, a three-play cycle exploring the epic saga of Emmett Till. While the first play, The Ballad of Emmett Till, is the story of the boy, That Summer in Sumner explores the 1955 trial of his killers. While drawing upon trial transcripts, contemporaneous news accounts, and the abundant photographic and media imaging, the play is not a docudrama, but my imagined interpretation of behind the scenes events from the perspective of three African American journalists covering the trial and from Emmett, himself, his ghost, his cipher, his Kah, coming to grips with what has happened to him.
This is the second play in The Till Trilogy, a three-play cycle which includes BENEVOLENCE and THE BALLAD OF EMMETT TILL, exploring the epic saga of Emmett Till and the birth of the modern Civil Rights Movement.
BENEVOLENCE explores the impact of the 1955 murder of 14-year-old Chicago youth Emmett Till on two families in the Mississippi Delta, one white (the family of his killers), one black (their neighbors). When the daily routine of a country storekeeper is disrupted by a group of buoyant teens, one of whom whistles at her, from that chance encounter, she is swept into a whirlwind of violence, prosecution, deceit and delusion that pursue her till the end of her days. In a nearby town, an auto mechanic and his wife struggle to hold their family together after his infidelity, but when he witnesses evidence of Till’s murder, the incident tears at the very fabric of their lives. Based on actual events, the third play in Bayeza’s THE TILL TRILOGY grapples with the enduring legacy of American racial violence through this intimate story of two women in quest of love and redemption.
Imagine witnessing 500 years of Aztec history in 10 minutes, a commercial for menudo popsicles, auditions for Pancho Villa: The Musical or a jillion texts from a psycho gringa. This “crazy” collection of eight short plays contains works that have entertained, inspired and sometimes offended. Playwright Alvaro Saar Rios showcases new work, commissioned pieces as well as those developed with the performance troupe The Royal Mexican Players. To be enjoyed by Texicans & non-Texicans across the country.
It’s Carmela’s birthday, and she’s finally old enough to accompany her big brother on his errands. On their way to the laundromat, past fields of what her Mamí calls “flores de cempazuchitl”, Carmela finds a puffy white dandelion to blow, but her brother asks “Did you even make a wish?”
The Newbery award-winning team behind Last Stop on Market Street portrays Carmela’s migrant community as a vibrant place of possibility. Full of touching and funny fantasies, Carmela must decide what her deepest wish is and she must do it before her birthday is over.
The O’Mallery’s have gathered in their local park to share some barbecue and straight talk with their sister Barbara, whose spiral of drugs and recklessness has forced her siblings to stage an open-air intervention. But the event becomes raucous and unpredictable as familial stereotypes collide with hard realities, and racial politics slam up against the stories we tell—and maybe even believe—about who we were and who we’ve become.
When eight strangers receive an invitation to the America in One Room event in 2019, promising robust discussions on a wide range of social and political topics, sparks fly, tempers flare, and comedy abounds. At a time when everyone thinks they’re right, it will take more than political debate to find common ground. Inspired by the real-life convention of the same name, AMERICA IN ONE ROOM is a comedy-drama that tackles our nation’s past, present and future (and even employs a little audience participation) to answer the question: is there hope for our country?
It is the morning after the brutal murder of Julio Rivera, a gay Puerto Rican man in Jackson Heights, Queens. The murder became the first gay hate crime tried in New York State during the 1990s. In Julio Ain’t Goin’ Down Like That, the community reacts and is taken on a journey of self-discovery by a fabulously unapologetic queen personifying the beauty and brutality of Jackson Heights.
Bruise and Thorn are Nuyorican, queer, and tired af of their jobs at a busted up laundromat in Jamaica, Queens. But not for long: Bruise is saving up to become a chef (like on Chopped!), and Thorn spits bars on street corners, one America’s Got Talent audition away from becoming the Boricua Nikki Minaj. When the laundromat’s basement turns out to be an illegal cockfighting ring, the cousins can’t tell if this is an opportunity to cash out and become their most fabulous selves—or a trap to keep them locked into what everyone expects them to be.
