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.
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.
A Thanksgiving play called by sports announcers. Every family holiday is full of tradition. Every family holiday is full of strife and joy. Where do our traditions come from? Why do we hold so tightly to them? Join the family at Wembley Stadium as they play the game called Thanksgiving Day: a day of gratitude in which we watch some people knock some other people down in order to get the ball over the line.
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. The play is an examination of the political and societal environment 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.
ALLIGATOR MOUTH, TADPOLE ASS is a twistedly queer memory play about a troubled man in 1986 looking for answers at Miss Chelley’s Fortune Shop in NYC. Instead of the answers he craves, he connects with a young man working there whose memory is constantly triggered by their incredibly intense connection. They cruise and dance their way through the past leading them to a dangerous night of improper role play.
Thirst is set in the kitchen as Eugene O’Neill’s classic Long Day’s Journey Into Night simultaneously takes place in the living room. It is a story where passion, wit and beauty bubble to the surface as two Irish servant women and an American chauffeur pass that day in 1912 at the Tyrone’s Monte Cristo Cottage.
This all-new musical, based upon Louisa May Alcott’s beloved 19th century novel, vividly brings to life the March family of Concord, Massachusetts. In a time of war and sacrifice, Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth, guided by their mother Marmee, grow from girls into women, through romance and courtship, illness and loss, loving and letting go. Kim Oler and Alison Hubbard’s moving Richard Rodgers Award-winning score, by turns funny and touching, is seamlessly matched by Sean Hartley’s wise and witty book. This is a LITTLE WOMEN like none you have ever seen or heard before.
