THE DARK GIRL CHRONICLES
The Dark Girl Chronicles (DGC) is a ritual-play cycle designed to crystallize in the collective memory the stories of Black women warriors against state violence.
Part Yoruba or Bantu-Kongo sacred story, part communal ritual, and part documentary-manifesto, each piece in the cycle focuses on the interiority and necessary dignity of dark girls, dark landscapes, and dark knowledges so often excised from the public arena.
DGC is made in collaboration with an array of incredible artists. Members of the core creative team include: Mei Ann Teo (Co-Director), Troy Anthony (Composer), and Tuce Yasak (Light/Set Design).
CHRONICLE X: WINDOWS
CHRONICLE X: WINDOWS, the first section in the cycle, refers to and is inspired by two major existing texts. The first is a creation story from the Odu Ifa, the corpus of sacred oral literature from the Yoruba people of Nigeria that if written would exceed 4,000 pages, about the three most powerful bits of stardust in the universe—Knowledge, Wisdom, and Understanding. The second are transcripts primarily drawn from the Facebook Live posting Diamond Reynolds made after her fiancé Philando Castile was shot by a police officer at a traffic stop. In CHRONICLE X, these stories crash into each other inside the structure of a Revival service, designed for healing and deliverance.
Workshops: JACK, January 2019
Playwright's Realm, February 2019
Rattlestick, November 2019
CHRONICLE Y: SUGAR
Set in a tropical swamp that transcends time and space, CHRONICLE Y: SUGAR is the sacred recitation of Rachel Jeantel's court transcripts detailing the murder of Trayvon Martin, set in the context of the Haitian Revolution.
Workshop, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, April, 2019 featuring Shelley Nicole, Marvel Allen, Nia Witherspoon
an and stylish font favored by designers. It's easy on the eyes and a great go to font for titles, paragraphs & more.
CHRONICLE Z: FEATHERS
written in collaboration with Linda LaBeija
It is said in Ifa that the "the world rejects the truth." It is said that beauty is truth.
In CHRONICLE Z: FEATHERS, we travel to the bush, or perhaps the bottom of the ocean, to investigate what the truth was the night Islan Nettles was murdered in a far away land called Sugar Hill. It is said that parrot feathers can over-turn an unjust empire. When Olokun's daughter was violated, they threatened to drown the world. We ask what justice looks like for Islan’s soul, and we cast a spell to make it so.
Staged Reading: Bushwick Starr Reading Series, November 2019
