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Nat Turner in Jerusalem

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By Nathan Alan Davis
Directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian

2016/17 Season

September 7, 2016—October 16, 2016

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In August 1831, Nat Turner led a slave uprising that shook the conscience of the nation. Turner’s startling account of his prophecy and the insurrection was recorded and published by attorney Thomas R. Gray. NYTW 2050 Fellow Nathan Alan Davis makes his New York debut with a timely new play that imagines Turner’s final night in a jail cell in Jerusalem, Virginia, as he is revisited by Gray and they reckon with what has passed and what the dawn will bring. Woven with vivid imagery and indelible lyricism, Nat Turner in Jerusalem examines the power of an individual’s resolute convictions and their seismic reverberations through time.

Scenic Design Susan Zeeman Rogers
Costume Design Montana Levi Blanco
Lighting Design Mary Louise Geiger
Sound Design Nathan Leigh
Fight Director Thomas Schall
Dialect Coach Dawn-Elin Fraser
Stage Manager Shelley Miles

CAST / CREATIVE

  • Phillip James Brannon

    Nat Turner

    NYTW: Belleville, Love and Information. Off-Broadway: ToasT (The Public); BootyCandy (Playwrights Horizons, Obie Award); The City of Conversation (Lincoln Center); We Are Proud To Present… (SoHo Rep). Regional: The Huntington, Steppenwolf, Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare, Wilma, Woolly Mammoth, and more. TV & Film: “Law & Order: SVU,” Contagion. Phillip holds a BFA in Acting from DePaul University.

  • Rowan Vickers

    Thomas R. Gray/Guard

    NYTW debut. Off-Broadway: The Sensuality Party (The New Group). Regional: Bad Jews (Studio Theatre, DC); Macbeth (Stratford); Peter Pan (The Grand Theatre); This Is Our Youth, Picnic, Cymbeline, Judy, By The Way Meet Vera Stark, The Seagull, As You Like It, Our Town, Richard III (Juilliard).

Nathan Alan Davis / Playwright

NYTW debut. Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea (Steinberg/ATCA New Play Citation) (NNPN Rolling World Premiere: Skylight Theatre Company & Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble, Phoenix Theatre, Theater Alliance, Cleveland Public Theatre, Oregon Contemporary Theatre; 2014 Source Festival). Nathan is a recipient of NYTW ‘s 2050 Fellowship (2015/16), 2016 Blue Ink Playwriting Award, 2016 L. Arnold Weissberger Award finalist, 2015 New Harmony Project residency. Recent/current development includes McCarter Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Public Theater, New Neighborhood, Rattlestick, The Lark, Arena Stage. He is a Lecturer in Theatre at Princeton in Fall 2016. Diploma in Playwriting, Juilliard; MFA: Indiana University.

Megan Sandberg-Zakian / Direction

NYTW debut. Off-Off-Broadway: The Broken Record (New York Times Critics Pick, FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award). Selected Regional: The Convert (Underground Railway Theater, Elliot Norton Award: Outstanding Production), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Trinity Rep/Perishable Theatre), It’s a Wonderful Life (Merrimack Repertory Theatre), Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea (Cleveland Public Theatre, NNPN Rolling World Premiere), The Brother/Sister Plays (Company One). Previously: Associate Artistic Director at The 52nd Street Project and The Providence Black Repertory Company. Currently: Director-in-Residence at Merrimack Repertory Theatre. Princess Grace Theater Award, TCG Future Leaders Fellow, TCG Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Institute, Lincoln Center Director’s Lab. SDC Member.

Susan Zeeman Rogers / Scenic Design

NYTW debut. Off-Broadway: Thumbprint (Prototype Festival, LA Opera), Septimus and Clarissa (Ripe Time). Regional: Trinity Rep, Shakespeare and Co, Merrimack Rep, Commonwealth Shakespeare, Opera Boston, Curtis Opera. Awards: Drama League Nomination for Distinguished Production, Eliot Norton Award, Ace Scenography Award, 2015 USA Exhibit Prague Quadrennial.

Montana Blanco / Costume Design

NYTW: Red Speedo. Off-Broadway: War (Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3), Hamlet, Teenage Dick, Pretty Hunger (Public Theater); O, Earth (Foundry Theatre). Upcoming: The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World (Signature Theatre), The Bluest Eye (Guthrie Theater), Ghost Light (Lincoln Center Theatre/LCT3). Education: Oberlin College & Conservatory of Music, Brown University, Yale School of Drama. montanaleviblanco.com

Mary Louise Geiger / Lighting Design

NYTW: Forever, Oedipus at Palm Springs, Architecture of Loss. Broadway: The Constant Wife (American Airlines). NYC: Killing of Sister George, Natural Affection (TACT, Beckett Theatre); Good Television, New York Idea (Atlantic); Kindness, Blue Door, Busy World is Hushed (Playwrights Horizons); Morini Strad, Olive and the Bitter Herbs (Primary Stages); Mabou Mines’ Dollhouse, Red Beads (Mabou Mines).

Nathan Leigh / Sound Design

Off-Broadway: Stitches (TheatreLab), Icarus (The Studio Theatre), White’s Lies (New World Stages), The Duchess of Malfi (Red Bull Theatre). Off-Off-Broadway: She She She (Ice Factory), Prospect (Boundless Theatre Company). Regional: Girlfriend (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre), The Convert (Central Square Theatre), Southside Stories (City Theatre of Pittsburgh)

Thomas Schall / Fight Direction

NYTW: Red Speedo, The Invisible Hand, Beast. Over 50 Broadway shows: The Color Purple, Blackbird, China Doll, Allegiance, The King and I, Constellations, Airline Highway, This Is Our Youth, Of Mice and Men, Romeo and Juliet, Lucky Guy, Death of a Salesman, Venus in Fur, War Horse, Merchant of Venice, A Free Man of Color, After Miss Julie, Mary Stuart. Multiple shows at Public Theater, MTC, Roundabout, Lincoln Center Theater, Metropolitan Opera.

Dawn-Elin Fraser / Dialect Coach

Born in Brooklyn; perfected in the SF Bay Area. Broadway: Waitress; Finding Neverland. Off-Broadway: Our Lady of Kibeho (Signature); Invisible Thread (Second Stage). National Tour: The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Site Specific: Ragtime on Ellis Island. Head of Voice and Speech for New Studio on Broadway/NYU.

Shelley Miles / Stage Manager

NYTW: Hadestown, What’s It All About? Bacharach Reimagined. Favorite credits – Broadway: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Violet, Betrayal, Picnic, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man. Off-Broadway: Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party, A New Brain, I’m Looking for Helen Twelvetrees. Three plays with The Debate Society.

NEWS

THE BRIEF

Visit The Brief to learn about the events leading up to and surrounding NAT TURNER IN JERUSALEM.

Learn More

GET TO KNOW NATHAN

Learn more about NYTW 2050 Fellow and playwright Nathan Alan Davis in this interview with Adam Szymkowicz, part 721 of Szymkowicz's "I Interview Playwrights" series.

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