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

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