WC Theatre to Present Manuscript Reading in Thursday and Friday Shows
“Southern trees bear a strange fruit… Blood on the leaves and blood at the root.”
(PICTURED) Aaliyah Compton (LEFT) and Lexi Mahaffa exchange dialogue in a scene from the show.
Billie Holiday sang slowly, hauntingly, in her famous 1939 recording of “Strange Fruit.” Sixty-seven years later, at Jena High School in Louisiana, six black teenagers were arrested and brought up on serious charges after assaulting a white student. The case of the Jena Six was precipitated by several other racially charged incidents, including nooses being hung from a tree—a prank many said was rooted in something much darker.
Senior theatre major Andrew Haag and an ensemble of six students will explore this story in a staged reading as part of the directing class final project. Haag and his cast have based their reading on a manuscript by Domonique Morisseau.
The story aims to take the language of incrimination, of privilege, of prejudice and probe the gray areas of politics and social culpability. It’s an American tale that uncomfortably resounds around the world, according to Maya Philips in American Theatre.
Wilmington College Theatre invites the public to attend the staged reading to be presented on Thursday and Friday, April 20 and 21, at 7:30 p.m., in Heiland Theatre. There is no admission charge.
