Citrus
Written by Celeste Jennings
Directed by JaMeeka Holloway-Burrell
February 26 – March 15, 2020
MARCH 14 & 15 PERFORMANCES CANCELLED.
Click here for more information.
A riveting choreopoem, Citrus chronicles the struggle and resilience of Black women in America from 1840 through the present day. With music, dance, and spoken word, an intergenerational cast illuminates the experiences of and pays homage to Black women in this poignant and uplifting performance piece. Celeste Jennings, winner of the 2018 Kennedy Center Hip Hop Theater Creator Award and recent Dartmouth College graduate, returns to the Upper Valley with this New Works Now 2019 audience favorite.
Advisories: Ages 14 and up for adult themes. There is one scene in which characters discuss sexual assault, and one racial slur is used. This production contains strobe effects.
Please note: Each parent and child is different; use your own discretion when deciding what is right for your family.
Run Time: Approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes, no intermission
Click HERE to read the Citrus study guide.
Spot On – Sunday, March 1, 3:00 PM
From a Dartmouth senior fellowship project to a professional world premiere at Northern Stage, Citrus has been on an incredible journey. Playwright and Costume Designer Celeste Jennings and Director JaMeeka Holloway-Burrell will discuss the process of bringing this choreopoem from the page to the stage.
Celeste Jennings is a playwright and costume designer who is passionate about creating art that challenges social norms and that accurately represents minority characters and their stories. She considers her work to be a form of activism, aimed to deconstruct barriers between performers and actors. Assistant design credits include Mlima’s Tale (Public Theatre) and Cardinal (2nd Stage Theatre). Recent design credits include Jonkonnu (Howard University), Twelfth Night (National Black Theatre Festival), It’s Fine, I’m Fine (Dartmouth College), The Ties that Bind (Catholic University). She is over the moon about Citrus being produced at Northern Stage and the opportunity to design costumes for her show! Celeste is very grateful to UGAR, the Senior Fellowship program, the Department of Theater (especially the costume shop) at Dartmouth College, Northern Stage administration, artistic, and production teams, her friends and family, and JaMeeka Holloway-Burrell, for all believing in her artistry and offering mentorship, love, and support.
JaMeeka Holloway-Burrell is a freelance director and producer. She is the Founding Artistic Director of Black Ops Theatre Company, lead curator for the Bull City Black Theatre Festival in Durham, NC, and a founding company member of Bulldog Ensemble Theatre. A 2018 Indy Arts Award winner, JaMeeka is a 2019-20 grant recipient from both the Manbites Dog Theater Fund and from the Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artists program. She also served as a 2019 theatre panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and for the North Carolina Arts Council. An alumnus of The Lark Play Development Center Apprenticeship program, JaMeeka has been an Assistant Director with The Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Playmakers Repertory, and more recently, an Associate Director with Duke Performances at Duke University. Her directing work has appeared at the Justice Theatre Project, Shakespeare in Detroit, Classic Stage, The Department of Theatre at Dartmouth College, Duke University’s Department of Theatre Studies, and the National Black Theatre Festival. http://www.jhbdirectedit.com
Black Theater in the Upper Valley and Beyond: A Conversation with JAG Productions – Friday, March 6, 6:30 PM
Lemal Community Room located in the Northern Stage Administration & Production Building next to the Barrette Center for the Arts
Join a vibrant conversation before seeing Citrus and learn more about JAG Productions. Northern Stage staff, Rachel Hemphill Dickson of the Ensemble Theater in Houston, Texas (a BOLD grantee theater), and JAG Productions founder and Producing Artistic Director Jarvis Antonio Green join together for a conversation on producing contemporary African-American theater in the Upper Valley and beyond.
This event is free but space is limited. To RSVP, contact boxoffice@northernstage.org or (802) 296-7000.
JAG Productions was formed with the mission to produce classic and contemporary African-American theatre; to serve as an incubator of new work that excites broad intellectual engagement; and thereby, to catalyze compassion, empathy, love, and community through shared understandings of humankind through the lens of the African-American experience.
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