UK Theatre and Dance presents collegiate premiere of ‘cullud wattah’
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 16, 2024) — The University of Kentucky Department of Theatre and Dance opens its 2024-25 “Season of Sustainability” with the collegiate premiere of “cullud wattah” by award-winning playwright Erika Dickerson-Despenza, directed by Assistant Professor Jeremy Gillett. This highly anticipated production will run from Oct. 17-20 in the Briggs Theatre with an added performance at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24. The play has been described by The New York Times as “a haunting and eye-opening production.”
“cullud wattah” is a striking Afro-surrealist work that chronicles the harrowing experiences of three generations of Black women during the Flint, Michigan, water crisis. Lead contaminates their home, bodies and memories, forcing buried secrets to the surface. As they navigate the toxic choices of external forces and the internal contamination that follows, the family faces the unsettling question of whether they can ever filter out the truth. The play’s innovative narrative bends time and blends form, offering a powerful exploration of survival in the face of insurmountable challenges.
Opening the “Season of Sustainability” with “cullud wattah,” Theatre and Dance Department Chair Susie Thiel hopes to highlight the commitment to environmental awareness through storytelling, while also making strides to reduce waste, pollution and energy consumption behind the scenes.
“The performing arts have the creative ability to address the substantial challenges of our time,” Thiel said. “I am excited to lead our department in reflecting, discovering and envisioning the state of the world through our work.”
For “cullud wattah,” the department employed sustainable practices by sourcing props locally or secondhand, utilizing collected paint water for onstage effects and adopting low-toxicity dye techniques for costumes. In addition, more than 90% of the materials used in the production will be diverted from landfills, with much of it being reused or recycled for future shows. The energy-efficient LED lighting further reflects the production’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This focus on sustainability reflects the department’s dedication not only to preserving the planet, but also inspiring solutions through the power of the arts.
Dickerson-Despenza will be present on opening night, Thursday, Oct. 17, and will join the audience for a post-show reception. On Friday, Oct. 18, she will participate in a Q&A session following the performance.
Dickerson-Despenza is a New Orleans-based Blk radical leftist poet-playwright and womanist cultural memory worker. Afro-surrealism, magical realism, narrative re/memory, kinesthetic imagination and Black queer women’s interiority and erotic fugitivity are conceptual preoccupations of her work. Dickerson-Despenza’s primary thematic foci are Black land legacies, Black apocalyptic ritual and environmental racism. Her work occupies sites of intimate reckoning, situating rupture in traditionally sacred or “safe” spaces to make invisible systems of environmental oppression and cultural trauma visible and ultimately ask us to consider abolitionist political ecologies.
Gillett, the production director, is an assistant professor of acting at UK and a dynamic thought leader in contemporary theater. A 2022 and 2021 semifinalist of the BAY AREA Playwright Festival for his play “The Get Back,” Gillett has gained national recognition for his work. He is the creator of “Black and 25 in America,” a series of vignettes that explore the experiences of young Black people in America, and he has been involved in various notable projects in film and theater, including “Raptors,” “Hitting the Cycle” and “Car Dogs.” Gillett holds an M.F.A. from Arizona State University and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA.
Content warning: This production contains mature themes, including coarse language, partial nudity and sensitive topics such as miscarriage.
“cullud wattah” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French Inc. Special thanks to season sponsor Donut Days Bakery.
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