Blood at the Root

Work continues in the shop on the drop for Blood at the Root (designed by Karl Jacobson). The show is wrapping up a state-wide campus tour and is getting ready for its first staged performance at the Penn State Downtown Theatre Center. It's headed back to South Africa and then to the Edinburgh Festival after that so don't miss out!

March 25–April 5
Penn State Downtown Theatre Center

BLOOD AT THE ROOT by Dominique Morisseau is a new drama inspired by the Jena Six. The Jena Six were six black teenagers convicted in the beating of a white student at Jena High School in Jena, Louisiana. The six black students were charged with attempted murder for a schoolyard fight after nooses were hung from a large tree in the center of the school courtyard. The tree was referred to by students as the "white tree,” so when a black student requested to sit under the tree, nooses were hung the following day. The conviction of the Jena Six was cited as an example of racial injustice in the United States, due to a belief that the defendants had been charged with too-serious offenses and had been treated unfairly. This bold new play examines the miscarriage of justice, racial double standards, and the crisis in relations between men and women of all classes and, as a result, the shattering state of black family life.

UPDATE: The show has closed here and is going back on its world tour, but here's a link to some images from the show: Blood at the Root