NC Black Rep to Collaborate With New Federal Theatre on BLOOMING IN DRY SEASON

The North Carolina Black Repertory Company will partner with Woodie King Jr.'s New Federal Theatre on the rolling world premiere of Eljon Wardally's Blooming in Dry Season, winner of the 2024 International Black Theatre Festival (IBTF) Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin Rolling World Premiere Award.

Set in a rum shop on the Spice Isle of Grenada and peppered with music that defines a culture, Blooming in Dry Season tells the story of Fitz, a failed Calypsonian, who faces losing everything when he and his wife, Rose, butt heads over their daughter Garland's path in life. A gifted steelpan player, Garland has been offered the opportunity to tour with the most famous Calypso group in the Caribbean, but Fitz fears the outcome will repeat his own disappointments in life. As tensions grow and secrets are revealed, the family struggles to mend broken dreams and find their lost harmony.

Blooming in Dry Season will feature original Calypso music by Trinidadian musician Etienne Charles, a Guggenheim Fellow and Creative Capital Awardee recipient, who, in November 2024, France awarded the Chevalier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) Medal. Playwright Eljon Wardally reflected on the upcoming rolling world premiere:

"I'm thrilled that my play, Blooming in Dry Season, will have a home at NC Black Rep, New Federal Theatre, and at the International Black Theatre Festival. It's truly an honor to be the recipient of the Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin Rolling World Premiere Award, and I'm deeply grateful to the theaters championing the power of Caribbean stories. It's time for our narratives to take center stage."

Blooming in Dry Season will represent Woodie King Jr.'s New Federal Theatre's (NFT) inaugural participation on the Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin Rolling World Premiere Award. NFT Producing Artistic Director Elizabeth Van Dyke shared the following on the theatre's partnership with NC Black Rep:

"North Carolina Black Repertory Company's, Producing Artistic Director, Jackie Alexander, initiating a partnership with New Federal Theatre to Co-produce the North Carolina & New York premiere of Blooming in Dry Season, during these arduous times, strengthens both organizations by sharing expenses & resources, by combining our experiences and skills, by broadening our audiences, by creating community, and establishing life-long artistic comrades and friendships. This partnership is a gift and we at New Federal Theatre are ever grateful."

Blooming in Dry Season will run August 1 - 10, 2025, at NC Black Rep in Winston-Salem, NC, followed by a six-week run from May 22 - June 28, 2026, at New Federal Theatre in New York City, and the rolling world premiere will conclude with a performance at the 2026 International Black Theatre Festival, July 27 - August 1, 2025, in Winston-Salem, NC.

The IBTF Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin Rolling World Premiere Award was created to assist in discovering and developing new African-American theatre classics, while promoting collaboration between African American theatre companies across the country. It is named in honor of IBTF Executive Producer Emeritus, Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin.

Previous recipients of the award include Phenomenal Woman: Maya Angelou by Angelica Cheri, which received productions in 2023 at NC Black Rep and The Ensemble Theatre in Houston, and is currently in development for Broadway by Corstoria LLC and J. Todd Harris Productions, and Coconut Cake by Melda Beaty, which received five critically acclaimed productions from 2024-2025 at NC Black Rep, West Coast Black Theatre Troupe in Sarasota, Hattiloo Theatre in Memphis, St. Louis Black Rep, and The Ensemble Theatre in Houston.

Photo credit: Wil Pierce Photography

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