The JOCUNDA FESTIVAL presents the award-winning playwright Robert Bowie Jr.’s Black Lives Matter play, THE GRACE OF GOD & THE MAN MACHINE

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The JOCUNDA FESTIVAL presents the award-winning playwright Robert Bowie Jr.’s Black Lives Matter play, THE GRACE OF GOD & THE MAN MACHINE, formally known as “ONAJE”, will appear on Sunday, October 25th at 8:00 p.m. EST on Zoom. Donations are $15.00. A Q&A with the playwright, director, actors and audience will follow led by Van Dirk Fisher, the director and founder of the Riant Theatre.

The Cast includes:  C.E. SMITH as Dan Claggett (Broadway credits include: The Color Purple), TAIT RUPPERT as Richard Middleman Sr. (Broadway credits include: CANDIDA with Joanne Woodward), TONI SEAWRIGHT as Sarah Claggett (Broadway credits include:  Street Corner Symphony), DUKE WILLIAMS as Onaje William Claggett, AUSTIN SKY PARKER as Richard Middleman Jr., SHEILA-JOON AZIM as Belle O’Brien,  PETER MENDES as Henderson and DEXTER FARREN HAAG as Andrew.

For tickets register in advance for this webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nS9PhZTyTMimDacMyxCCeA

Donation: $15.00 to benefit Riant Theatre.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Racism. Violence. Voter Registration. These omnipresent themes are front and center in our national conscience and conversation on the precipice of a presidential election that many feel may seal the fate of our country. THE GRACE OF GOD & THE MAN MACHINE, an intricately plotted thriller, explores the consequence of racism on two individuals and their families.

Set in Eastern Maryland in the 1960’s and 1987, two sons, one white one black, meet by chance on a road. They don’t know it, but their families shared a life-altering connection years before. But now, their fate and their families’ future may depend upon the choices they will be forced to make.

THE GRACE OF GOD & THE MAN MACHINE asks and allows the audience to ponder and answer: is the die forever cast by a one-time choice we make?

An O’Neill Theater Center semi-finalist, Onaje appeared at the 2018 Fringe Festival to rave reviews and sold out audiences. Theatre Is Easy gave Onaje its Best Bet designation and described its “high stakes story” as “the most dramatic, fleshed out near-cinematic play I have seen.” Onstage Blog said Onaje “brilliantly brings a sense of warmth,” and Blog Critic described the play as embodying “exquisite conceptualizations and themes.”

“Having run this Zoom Play Reading Series since the pandemic began, I’ve developed directorial and visual techniques that makes our Zoom productions visually, emotionally and viscerally stimulating, something that some people haven’t always associated with the play reading format,” Van Dirk Fisher said. “And audience love the interactive and spirited Q and A that follows.”

 

There will be a TALK BACK afterwards with the Playwright, Director and Cast after the reading. Van Dirk Fisher, Founder & Artistic Director of the Riant Theatre and producer of the JOCUNDA MUSIC, FILM & THEATRE FESTIVAL will be the moderator.


To learn more about the JOCUNDA FESTIVAL visit
https://rcl.ink/Sz0 

To submit your play for consideration for the Play Reading Series visit https://rcl.ink/GKw

To make a DONATION to the JOCUNDA FESTIVAL visit https://rcl.ink/Sc8

 


 Visit the JOCUNDA FESTIVAL GIFT SHOP Click Here.

 

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