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TV: Joaquina Kalukango, James Cusati-Moyer & Paul Alexander Nolan Both Keep and Tell the Secrets of SLAVE PLAY!

By: Dec. 15, 2019
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Provocative. Scalding. Explosive. Radical. Daring. These are just a few words that have used to describe Jeremy O. Harris's latest work- Slave Play, which plays through January 19 at the Golden Theatre. The critically acclaimed play, brought to life onstage by director Robert O'Hara, has been rocking the world of audiences since it opened on October 6, and long before that, during its off-Broadway run at New York Theatre Workshop.

"[Jeremy] is asking questions and not providing direct answers for a solution. That is not how this play exists," says James Cusati-Moyer. "This is about eight specific people, as a metaphor, because this is theatre, for our country. So when people come to the play looking for a direct solution or answers... I'm not sure if they will find it. Maybe within themselves, but I think the play is a mirror reflection that allows us a chance to sit with those questions and reflect on them and say, 'Ok, well how can I move forward as a member of society?'"

TV: Joaquina Kalukango, James Cusati-Moyer & Paul Alexander Nolan Both Keep and Tell the Secrets of SLAVE PLAY!  Image

The eight characters in question are played by Cusati-Moyer, Ato Blankson-Wood, Sullivan Jones, Joaquina Kalukango, Chalia La Tour, Irene Sofia Lucio, Annie McNamara, and Paul Alexander Nolan. Who exactly do they play and in what world?

The Old South lives on at the MacGregor Plantation - in the breeze, in the cotton fields...and in the crack of the whip. It's an antebellum fever-dream, where fear and desire entwine in the looming shadow of the Master's House. Jim trembles as Kaneisha handles melons in the cottage, Alana perspires in time with the plucking of Phillip's fiddle in the boudoir, while Dustin cowers at the heel of Gary's big, black boot in the barn. Nothing is as it seems, and yet everything is as it seems.

TV: Joaquina Kalukango, James Cusati-Moyer & Paul Alexander Nolan Both Keep and Tell the Secrets of SLAVE PLAY!  Image

Below, watch as the trio discusses with BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge the joys and struggles of bringing such an important (yet polarizing) play to the masses. Plus, they tell us more about life backstage and how they prepare to ride an emotional rollercoaster eight times a week!




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