Rep Stage's Rehearsal of Noms de Guerre

Tomorrow, Rep Stage will present a “one-night-only” staged reading of my play Noms de Guerre. Under the direction of Otis Cortez Ramsey-Zoe and featuring Nora Achrati, James J. Johnson, Lolita Marie, Jon Hudson Odom, Natalie Graves Tucker, and Dawn Ursula. Friday's rehearsal of Noms de Guerre was so rich and full. I'm continuing to learn about these characters and about how this play works. We began discussing the initial inspiration of the play ... 

Originally, this was meant to be a play about the War on Women and our ever-changing role in society. I wanted to write about a conservative Black woman whose political decisions hindered women’s reproductive rights. Ultimately, I write to make sense of the world.  In the wake of what’s been happening to women around the world and in the U.S., I wanted to understand what could possibly drive a woman, a politician, to do this to other women. The play was to follow the evolution of a friendship between two women, Mira and Jude. Over the course of seventeen years, we would have seen certain events play out in their lives that addressed these larger issues. But I quickly lost interest in that play and instead, this other story, this story of war … about how a broken soldier returns home and disrupts the lives of his ambitious wife and her career-driven best friend, needed to be the driving force. And in the most haunting, exquisite, and terrifying way, these other issues have come through, but now on more personal and deeply intimate levels. This play also explores the lives of middle class people of color, which we don't often see explored on our stages. 

From there, we did a table read of the script and had quite a passionate discussion. It''s wonderful to have actors who have been a part of the process from the beginning and others who are completely new to the script. We go back into rehearsal tomorrow in preparation for our reading at 7:00pm. For those interested in attending, click here to learn more and here for directions to The Monteabaro Recital Hall at the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center. For now, please enjoy these photos from our rehearsal!

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Rehearsal at Rep Stage

L-R: Nora Achrati, Jon Hudson Odom, Dawn Ursula, James J. Johnson, Lolita Marie, Natalie Graves Tucker, Susan Pigman, and Otis Ramsey-Zoe.

L-R: Nora Achrati, Natalie Graves Tucker, Jon Hudson Odom, Dawn Ursula, Lolita Marie, James J. Johnson, Susan Pigman, and Joseph Ritsch, Photo by Otis Ramsey-Zoe.

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Rep Stage, a professional regional theatre in residence at Howard Community College, is celebrating its 22nd season. The company is a member of the League of Washington Theatre, the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance and Theatre Communications Group. Rep Stage is recognized by Theatre Washington as professional DC Metro area theatre company and is eligible to be nominated for the Helen Hayes Awards. Performances are made possible by Howard Arts Council, Howard County Government, and the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency funded by the Stage of Maryland and National Endowment of the Arts, as well as through generous individual contributions. Rep Stage is proud to be a partner of Howard County Tourism and promotion. Rep Stage’s Artistic Leadership is helmed by Co-Producing Artistic Directors Suzanne Beal and Joseph Ritsch.

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