The America Play
PLAYWRIGHT
Suzan-Lori Parks
DIRECTOR
Wier Harman
January 8 – February 13, 2001
Gut-busting, in-your-face comedy!







SYNOPSIS
Once upon a time there was a theme park called the Great Hole of History. It was popular spot for honeymooners who, in search of “post-nuptial excitement,” would visit this hole and watch the daily historical parades. One of the visitors was a man who has how come to call himself The Founding Father. He was a digger by trade — grave digger — and he was struck by the size of the Hole and the pageantry of the place. He returns home with his wife, Lucy, a women who keeps secrets for the dead, and together they start a mourning business. Unfortunately, our hero cant get the Great Hole pageantry out of his head; the echoes of history speak to him and call him to greatness. At rise we meet this Founding Father, He has left his wife and child and gone out west to dig a huge replica of the Great Hole of History.
In the hole sits our hero. He is dressed like Abraham Lincoln, complete with beard, wart. frock coat and stove pipe hat. He tells us the story of his own life (in third person) and tells us that he had become a very successful Abraham Lincoln impersonator! He’s so successful that people actually pay a penny to re-enact Lincoln’s assassination using our imposter-hero and a phony gun. Eventually, the Father dies and the second act sees his wife Lucy and thirty-five-year-old son, Brazil, a professional weeper visit the hole to dig for his Father’s remains. Listening to the past through her deaf-horn, Lucy hears echoes of gunshots and lurid stage-shows. When they dig up the Founding Father’s body (he’s alive) they decide they have to lay him to rest for good. In the play’s last image, his son is trying to climb a ladder out of the Hole of History.
“ALL THE MORE POWERFUL FOR BEING SO FEARLESSLY UNPREDICTABLE.”
– Los Angeles TIMES
“SEARING AND SENSATIONALLY FUNNY!”
– New York Times
“EXPLOSIVE. INSANELY ENTERTAINING AND COMPLETELY ENGAGING.”
– New York Magazine
Cast & Creative Team

Damian Lockhart
Sutter

Asia Howard
Actor one

Parris Sarter
Actor three

Charlie Thomas
Actor four

Caleb Clark
Actor five

COREY J. FINLEY
PETER UNDERSTUDY

ABBEY KINCHELOE
LYDIA UNDERSTUDY

JESSE SMITH
COACH UNDERSTUDY
PLAYWRIGHT
Robert O'Hara
DIRECTOR
MARTIN DAMIEN WILKINS
SCENIC DESIGNER
NATALIE TAYLOR HART
LIGHTING & PROJECTION DESIGN
KEVIN FRAZIER
COSTUME DESIGNER
JARROD BARNES
Co-Sound Designers
Jeremiah Davison &
WINSTON JOHNSON
PROPERTIES DESIGNER/ SET DECORATOR
NICK BATTAGLIA
Stage Manager
Joan Foster McMarty
INTIMACY CHOREOGRAPHER
ASH ANDERSON
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
WHITNEY NELSON
Stage Manager
Joan Foster McMarty
PRODUCTION MANAGER
SEAMUS M. BOURNE
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
D. CONNOR MCVEY
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
ENGLISH BRACKETT
PRODUCTION ELECTRICIAN
TOM PRIESTER
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
ELIZA CRAFT
CASTING DIRECTOR
SHEILA OLIVER
CASTING ASSOCIATE
JUSTIN KALIN
CHARGE SCENIC ARTIST
AMANDA NERBY
WIG DESIGNER
LAMONT SAMUELS
RUNNING TIME
Two hours with one intermission
CONTENT ADVISORY
Audience Advisory: This production contains full nudity, strong adult language and descriptions and depictions of sensitive and intense issues and situations. For more detailed information about potential trigger warnings, please click HERE
SEATING
There is open seating for this production.
PERFORMANCES
Previews
May 12 & 13 at 8 pm
Opening Night
May 14 at 8 pm
Regular Performances
May 14 – June 12, 2022
Wednesdays – Saturdays at 8 pm
Sundays at 2 pm
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
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