[NEohioPAL] Oberlin College Theater Presents Follow Me to Nellie's

[Theater and Dance]

*Oberlin College Theater Presents Follow Me to Nellie’s *


By Dominique Morisseau

Directed by Justin Emeka


February 6, 7 & 8 at 8pm


Hall Auditorium

Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH


Natchez, Mississippi, 1955.  A warm southern breeze hums. The neon jukebox
glows expectantly. Low voices murmur as the Blues fill the air, beckoning to
“follow me, follow me...to a place where dreams set sail.” Drift into the
home of Ms. Nellie Jackson, a segregated whorehouse where forgotten women
seek refuge from the vicious realities of Jim Crow. When a longtime friend
gets Nellie to reluctantly house a Northern voting rights worker hiding
from a lynch mob, Nellie is forced to choose between protecting their lives
or their dreams.  Women and men, young and old, risk everything to inspire
revolutionary change in a place determined to stay the same. Written by the
award winning playwright, Dominique Morisseau, Follow Me To Nellie’s
follows eight characters as they embark upon their individual journeys to
personal freedom. Incorporating live Blues music and the poetic staging of
Assistant Professor Justin Emeka, this regional premiere is both a singular
and timeless example of the joy and pain caused by those that love us the
most.


*Ticketing Information*


General Admission: $11 public; $8 seniors, college alumni and staff; $5
students. All tickets are $3 more at the door.


Central Ticket Service is located in the lobby of Hall Auditorium

Open Noon to 5 p.m., Monday–Friday

Phone: 440-775-8169 or 800-371-0178

www.oberlin.edu/artsguide/tickets



*Production Notes*


 As a regional premiere, Follow Me To Nellie’s is already a unique
production for a college campus. However, this is not only a premiere of
Dominique Morisseau’s story, but also Oberlin’s own specific version of the
script. As one of Morisseau’s lesser known works, Follow Me To Nellie’s
actually had two working versions, which director Justin Emeka combined and
edited for an entirely new version distinct to Oberlin. While the play
already speaks to many issues of interest to students, such as the Civil
Rights Movement, women’s empowerment, and the South in 1955, this editing
process allowed Emeka to reveal the specific experiences of those living in the
Oberlin community through Morisseau’s text.


 Certainly Morisseau would never have allowed such changes if it wasn’t for
the fact that she and Emeka have been cultivating a relationship over the
last two to three years. First crossing one another on an online forum
regarding color blind casting, Emeka and Morisseau eventually met in
person, discovering that their passion for storytelling that put the
African American experience at the center of the theater overlapped. This
passion has made Morisseau a singular writer for the theater. As Emeka
noted, her focus on the Black experience explicitly “shin[es] a light on a
community that doesn’t necessarily always feel welcome in the theater,” but
it does so without precluding others from enjoying it. This concept of
“universality through specificity” is yet another point of agreement for
the two artists, as it is something Emeka has long articulated in his own
artistic life.


 Still, it is not only their interests that align. Morisseau’s style of
writing largely speaks to the way in which Emeka directs. Often times
beginning his rehearsal process by exploring what the world of the play
sounds like, Emeka has found that Morisseau often writes in such music as a
part of her own process. Even more, the two are both informed by the blues
cultural aesthetic, an aesthetic that speaks to the music, content, and
artistic sensibility and structure of a work. Because this type of theatre,
referred to as “Blues” theatre by Emeka, is a form yet to defined, Morisseau
and Emeka are at the forefront of an original style. For Emeka, one can see
Blues theatre emerge when “polyrhythms” are recognized in the script;
namely, when more than one thing is happening at once, so as to create a
“pastiche that complements a whole.” In Follow Me To Nellie’s, this is
apparent when music, dance, poetry, and spoken word lines occur
concurrently to create the scene.


 It is a rare occasion for the theater when so many completely new elements
of writing, design, and style are explored. The excitement is contagious.
As Emeka stated, “it really feels like we’re apart of creating something
new and fresh and exciting.”


*Justin Emeka* (Director) is an Assistant Professor of Africana studies and
Theater. With over 20 years of experience, Mr. Emeka is recognized for his
new work and ability to integrate traditions of the African Diaspora within
classical and contemporary theater. At Oberlin his directing credits
include: The Compromise, Macbeth, Black and Blues, and Death of a Salesman
(featuring Avery Brooks). Professional directing credits include: A
Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Classical Theater of Harlem; Julius X at the
Karamu House in Cleveland; Living History at The Intiman Theatre in
Seattle; Sankofa Theater at The Seattle Theatre Group; and A Raisin in the Sun
at Artswest and the Oberlin Summer Theater Festival. He is the recipient of
the Seattle Arts Commission Literary Fellowship in playwriting, and The
Washington State Film Commission Screenwriting Award. Mr. Emeka is a member
of Actors Equity Association as well as an associate member of The Stage
Directors and Choreographers Society. This summer he will return to New
York to direct Romeo & Juliet for the Classical Theatre of Harlem.


*Dominique Morisseau* (Playwright) is a writer and actress as well as a
recent alumni of the 2011 Public Theater Emerging Writers Group, the
Women’s Project Playwrights Lab, and the Lark Playwrights Workshop. Her
play, Detroit ’67, received a world premiere in the 2012-2013 season of the
Public Theater, which was presented in association with the Classical
Theatre of Harlem. In September 2012, her play Sunset Baby had its world
premiere at the Gate Theater in London, UK. Dominique’s inaugural play,
Follow Me To Nellie’s, was developed at the 2010 O’Neill National
Playwrights Conference and produced at Premiere Stages in July 2011. Her
produced one-acts include: Third Grade (FTT Festival), Black at Michigan
(Cherry Lane Studio/DUTF), Socks, Roses Are Played Out and Love and
Nappiness (Center Stage, ATH). Dominique’s commissions include:
love.lies.liberation (The New Group), Bumrush (Hip Hop Theater Festival)
and The Masterpiece (Harlem9/HSA).  Dominique is currently developing a
3-play cycle on her hometown of Detroit, entitled “The Detroit Projects.”
 The first play in the series, Detroit ’67, was developed at The Public
Theater and was a finalist for the 2011 O’Neill National Playwrights
Conference. The second play in the series, Paradise Blue, was developed
June 2011 at the Voice and Vision Retreat, the Hansberry Project at ACT in
Seattle, and at Dartmouth with New York Theatre Workshop. Her work has also
been published in NY Times bestseller - “Chicken Soup for the African
American Soul.”  Dominique is a Jane Chambers Playwriting Award Honoree, a
two-time NAACP Image Award recipient, a runner-up for the 2011 Princess Grace
Award, a recipient of the Elizabeth George commission from South Coast Rep,
a commendation from the Primus Prize by the American Theatre Critics
Association, and the winner of the 2012 Barrie and Bernice Stavis
Playrwright Award by National Theatre Conference. Dominique is also the
2012 PoNY (Playwrights of New York) Fellow.
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