Edges of Time: Reading and Next Steps

I'm writing to you from Denver, where I'm dramaturging the world premiere production of Donnetta Lavinia Grays beautiful play, Last Night and the Night Before at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. It's my first time in Denver and I'm beyond excited to be working on this new play with such a phenomenal group of theatre artists. It's also nice to be away for a bit. Of course, I'm still reeling from the joy and success of the new play workshop of Edges of Time. It was such a blessing to gather in a room full of women to tell the story of Marvel Cooke's extraordinary life and career.

I'll be working on revisions over the weekend. With this play,  I'm thinking about what it means to leave a career that you love--a career you're good at, because economic and political forces push you out, and what is lost by your absence. I'm thinking about how a movement that focused on justice and workers' rights so terrified the powers-that-be that it was weaponized, and where we are now because impoverished people remain disenfranchised and do not control the narrative. I'm thinking about what happens to us as individuals when we begin to understand the larger systems at play that work to erase our humanity. I'm also thinking about how relevant this story is today given our socio-political and racial climate. This play has me so alive right now.  To learn more about the play, the process, and to hear from my collaborators, please read this excellent interview, The Marvelous Life of Marvel Cooke, written by UNC College of Arts and Sciences Kim Weaver Spurr.

When I return from Denver, I'll be working to complete another rather exciting play, and I look forward to telling you more about it soon. In the meantime, please enjoy these photos from the rehearsal ad reading with my amazing, talented, generous, and brilliant ensemble: Kaja Dunn (Director), Ash Heffernan (Stage Directions), Kathryn Hunter-Williams (Marvel Cooke), and Jules Odendahl-James (Dramaturg). Please enjoy!

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Edges of Time Workshop
Photos by Donn Young, College of Arts and Sciences

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Edges of Time Program

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Edges of Time Reading

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Edges of Time Ensemble
Photo by David Navalinsky

L-R: Kaja Dunn (Director), Ash Heffernan (Stage Directions), Jacqueline E. Lawton (Playwright), Jules Odendahl-James (Dramaturg), and Kathryn Hunter-Williams (Marvel Cooke). Photo by David Navalinsky.