Word for Word and Z Space stage the Pulitzer Prize winning author Edward P Jones' novel All Aunt Hagar's Children opening November 19 (previews November 16-17-18) on San Francisco's Z Space Main Stage. Set in 1950s Washington, D.C. this Noir tale spotlights a young Korean War vet who sets out to solve a murder and becomes entangled in a web of family history. He is unsettled by another death-a young Jewish woman whose last words haunt him and his investigation. Edward P. Jones evokes a neighborhood of vivid characters, telling a story about the strength of family and the choices that shape our lives.
"Word for Word is proud to produce this short story: Jones' mystery is subtle, haunting, and filled with his dry humor." remarks founding Artistic Director Susan Harloe. "Clues, questions, and family secrets surface throughout, interweaving and dissembling." All Aunt Hagar's Children is a story of neighborhood and community, and when taken within the context of the whole of the book, is also a mirror of the Black Migration from the South to the North, and the midcentury Jewish diaspora from Europe to the United States. Jones has caught the pulse of a neighborhood in a big urban community, and has created a stunning, indelible story. His writing is filled with empathy and imagination, and "radiate[s] decency, humanity, and an abiding faith in human possibility." (Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post) It is a perfect story for America in 2016.
Directed by Stephanie Hunt with Assistant Director Margo Hall, the All Aunt Hagar's Children ensemble includes Sheila Balter*, Velina Brown*, Margo Hall*, Kehinde Koyejo*, Khary Moye, Joel Mullennix* and Jia Taylor. (*AEA) Designers of this All Aunt Hagar's Children production feature Sean Riley, Scenic Design; Jim Cave, Lighting; Drew Yerys, Sound; A. René Walker, Costumes; and Jacquelyn Scott, Props.
The New York Times bestselling author, Edward P. Jones, has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Critics Circle award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Lannan Literary Award for The Known World; he also received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2004. His first collection of stories, Lost in the City, won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was short-listed for the National Book Award. His second collection, All Aunt Hagar's Children, was a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award. He has been an instructor of fiction writing at a range of universities, including Princeton. He lives in Washington, D.C.
For tickets: 866.811.4111 or at www.zspace.org
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