“Oh Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!
And so I was, which plainly signified
That I should snarl and bite, play the dog.”
—Henry VI, Part 3, Shakespeare & Marlowe
An aging ruler, an oppressive police state, a restless polarized people seething with paranoia: it’s a dangerous time for poets. Two of them — the great Kit Marlowe and up-and-comer Will Shakespeare — meet in the back room of a pub to collaborate on a history play cycle, navigate the perils of art under a totalitarian regime, and flirt like young men with everything to lose. One of them may well be the death of the other.
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.
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.
When a whip-smart, deeply imaginative teenager agrees to take a road trip with her free-spirited Latina mother, neither can imagine where it will take them. Chance encounters with a medley of characters along the way bring them closer to understanding what sets them apart—and what connects them forever. At the heart of the story is a mother-daughter relationship complicated and threatened by immigration policies. MISS YOU LIKE HELL reminds us that musicals have the power to explore the exposed territory where political becomes personal.
This never-more-timely story features a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning book writer of IN THE HEIGHTS, Quiara Alegría Hudes, and compelling, original songs by Erin McKeown that are every bit as diverse and eclectic as America. MISS YOU LIKE HELL is a new musical that exudes the joy, love and frustration of being a family in a changing country.
MISS YOU LIKE HELL School Edition has been adapted from the original Off-Broadway production. The School Edition has been carefully edited, with additional director’s notes throughout, to make the show more producible for high school groups. Song keys have been adjusted to sit more comfortably in the range of high school performers. In some cases, problematic language has been changed, while in others an alternate choice is offered at the discretion of the director.
When a whip-smart, deeply imaginative teenager agrees to take a road trip with her free-spirited Latina mother, neither can imagine where it will take them. Chance encounters with a medley of characters along the way bring them closer to understanding what sets them apart—and what connects them forever. At the heart of the story is a mother-daughter relationship complicated and threatened by immigration policies. MISS YOU LIKE HELL reminds us that musicals have the power to explore the exposed territory where political becomes personal.
This never-more-timely story features a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning book writer of IN THE HEIGHTS, Quiara Alegría Hudes, and compelling, original songs by Erin McKeown that are every bit as diverse and eclectic as America. MISS YOU LIKE HELL is a new musical that exudes the joy, love and frustration of being a family in a changing country.
