Theatre and Dance presents Suzan-Lori Parks’ In the Blood

(Posted Feb. 1, 2019)

Clarksville, TN – On Thursday, Feb. 7, the Austin Peay State University Department of Theatre and Dance will continue their 2018 – 2019 season with “In the Blood” by Suzan-Lori Parks. The play contains mature subject matter and themes, including explicit language, violence and sexual content. This play is not recommended for children.

The production will run from Thursday, Feb. 7, through Sunday, Feb. 10. The show starts at 7:30 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, with matinee performances on Saturday and Sunday starting at 2 p.m. All performances will take place in the Margaret Fort Trahern Laboratory Theatre.    

In this modern-day riff on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter,” the play follows Hester La Negrita, a homeless African-American mother of five as she negotiates the many traps laid for her by society while living under a bridge with her family. Learning to read and write from her oldest child, Jabber, she is only able to write the letter “A.” Her children are played by adult actors who double as five other people who dominate Hester’s life – her ex-boyfriend, her social worker, her doctor, her best friend and her minister.

Directed by Talon Beeson, assistant professor of acting and directing, and written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, this multimedia production examines the role modern society and economic systems put on those who inhabit the civilization’s underclasses. A modern, post-capitalist fairy tale, “In the Blood” is a prescient and appropriate play for 2019.

With assistance from Austin Peay’s Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts (CECA), the Department of Theatre and Dance brought in guest costume designer Alexis Carrie for this production. Carrie “believes in the power of costume as a tool for storytelling. She uses this medium to provide a window into an individual's character and to amplify the narratives of marginalized communities.”

“Working with Alexis has been fantastic,” Beeson said. “She has taken my concept and run with it to create something that subtly supports the overall work while standing out in its own right.”

Carrie is a graduate of the University of Chicago (A.B '12) and Carnegie Mellon University (MFA in Costume Design '18), and is a founding member of First Floor Theater in Chicago.

“In the Blood” is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York. Tickets may be purchased online at https://www.apsu.edu/theatre-dance/ or at Trahern Theatre Box Office before the performance. There will be a special talk-back session immediately following the Saturday afternoon performance with the director and actors.

For  information, call the Trahern Theatre Box Office at 931-221-7379 or email boxoffice@apsu.edu.