As the culminating event of its Stage Coach audience engagement and community outreach initiative, American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) announced the world-premiere production Crack. Rumble. Fly.: The Bayview Stories Project, taking place during a two-day Bayview Festival (June 18-19, 2016) in San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point district. Commissioned by A.C.T. from Los Angeles-based playwright Aleshea Harris, Crack. Rumble. Fly.: The Bayview Stories Project is inspired by Sophocles' Oedipus the King and interweaves the lives and experiences of African Americans living in Bayview-Hunters Point, bringing to theatrical life the stories, questions, and connections shared during story circle workshops held in various neighborhood sites.
A performance of Crack. Rumble. Fly.: The Bayview Stories Project will take place on Saturday, June 18, at 1 p.m. in Mendell Plaza (3rd Street and Palou) on the A.C.T. Stage Coach mobile pop-up theater, which transforms public arenas into temporary, multigenerational communal gathering spots for participatory theater arts experiences. Other activities-beginning at noon on Saturday, June 18-include offerings by local poets, musicians, vendors, and more. On Sunday, June 19, at 2 p.m., a performance of Crack. Rumble. Fly.: The Bayview Stories Project will take place at Laughing Monk Brewing (1439 Egbert Ave.). A special Father's Day brunch will happen immediately following the Sunday, June 19, performance. Both performances are free and open to the public.
Over the past two years, A.C.T.'s Stage Coach initiative has been fostering relationships with residents of the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood through numerous theater-based, community-building activities. The play development process for Crack. Rumble. Fly.: The Bayview Stories Project included community readings of the script, allowing participants to give the playwright direct feedback and actively participate in the play's creation. Central to the conversation have been themes of displacement, marginalization, and police brutality within San Francisco's African American community.
Under the direction of Tyrone Davis, the cast features community members from Bayview-Hunters Point, as well as professional local actors, including principals Mary Booker, Jessica Jones, Mr. Kovak, and David McKneely. The cast is rounded out by Bert Bruno, Niko Buchanan, Zack Collier, Jordan Don, Abdulrahim Harara, Verna Howard, Clara McDaniel, Cheri Miller, Erika Morris, and Johnya Phillips.
Says A.C.T. Associate Producer Erin Michelle Washington: "It is an honor to be able to work with local artists and community members in the Bayview. In an economically shifting San Francisco, it is amazing to create art that centers the rich, grounded, and spirited contributions of Black artists to this city. A.C.T. is committed to supporting this community's sustenance and stands in solidarity with the preservation of the arts economy present in the Bayview. " Adds Davis: "We enter an intergenerational room every week for rehearsal that pushes our minds to think beyond the limits we thought we had for ourselves. We learn from all, from the youngest member to the eldest sage. Art is alive in the Bayview!"
The creative team for Crack. Rumble. Fly.: The Bayview Stories Project includes Tyrone Davis (Director), Erin Michelle Washington (Producer), Whitney
Mignon Reed (Assistant Director/Choreographer), Ariella Wolfe (Stage Manager), Malik Seneferu (Set Designer), George P. Scott (Costumes), Mary Booker (Dramaturg), and
Vivian Ellis and Vanessa Banks (Consultants).
In conjunction with Crack. Rumble. Fly.: The Bayview Stories Project, A.C.T. is partnering with the Museum of the African Diaspora, Youth Speaks, Big Mouth Productions, Imprint City, Bayview Opera House, and 3rd Street Village to create a Juneteeth festival during the weekend of June 18-19, 2016, to honor the legacy of African Americans in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood and in the larger San Francisco community. On Saturday, June 4, 2-4 p.m., excerpts from Crack. Rumble. Fly. and artistic vision from director Tyrone Davis will be presented at the Museum of the African Diaspora. On Friday, June 17, at 6:30 p.m., excerpts from Crack. Rumble. Fly. will be presented as part of Bayview Opera House's monthly Friday event, 3rd on Third.
Stage Coach is a program of the Education & Community Programs Department at A.C.T., launched in summer 2014. As a community-based, participatory theater program, Stage Coach is aimed at engaging San Franciscans in telling un- and undertold stories and supports multigenerational audiences in the creation of theater. Programming includes stand-alone theatrical experiences at street fairs and festivals throughout the city, as well as ongoing residencies in three San Francisco neighborhoods: Central Market/Tenderloin, Bayview-Hunters Point, and Mission/Excelsior. Traveling across the city with a mobile stage unit, A.C.T. joins many artists and organizations in an effort to extend spaces for cultural production beyond building walls to connect people to the power of theater and storytelling. Additionally, our intensive residencies focus on increasing access to theater training for San Franciscans who have never created theater. These partnerships allow us to re-center the stories and experiences of marginalized communities and provide multiple entry points into creative participation and expression at all ages.
Stage Coach is made possible by the generous support of the
James Irvine Foundation.
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