Experiments 18: Pearl
Written by Sonhara Eastman
Directed by LA Williams
Set in North Carolina at the start of the twentieth century when a young bi-racial woman realizes both her sex and race are against her as she tries to save the land left to her mother by the white father she’s never met.
CAST
Pearl
Gabrielle Archer
Lucie Mae
Stephanie McFarlane
Charles
Chaundre Hall Bloomfield
Aunt Margaret
LaVonda Elam
William
Cecil Blutcher
Johnny Waters
John Wiggins
Dottie
Renika Williams
Stage Directions
Gha’il Rhodes Benjamin
Sonhara Eastman is a playwright and screenwriter from New York. She received her MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch, where she implemented the departments first-ever Black History Month Celebration through Art. Her plays are known for illuminating the black experience and include Pearl, The Club, and Black Girls Guide to Fertility. Sonhara’s plays have been workshopped at 7 Stages, The Classical Theatre of Harlem’s Playwrights Playground, Working Title Playwrights Ethel Woolson Lab at the Alliance Theatre (Black Box) and The Goldberg Theatre at NYU. She was a finalist for the National Playwright’s Center Many Voices Fellowship and a semi-finalist for the Made in New York Writer’s Room Initiative. She has worked for numerous production companies such as E! Entertainment, MTV, ESPN, Lifetime, Lionsgate, and the Comcast Network. Sonhara is a member of the Writer’s Guild East and Dramatist Guild, and wants to build on the legacy of great playwrights.
Experiments Play Reading Series
For the 23rd season of La MaMa Experiments we will focus on theatrical works in progress addressing mental health issues. No one is more familiar with the need to create greater access to mental healthcare than our New York audience, who come face to face with this crisis on a daily basis. After 3 years of a global pandemic, all of us are feeling the upsurge of anxiety and depression, but these trends have been on the rise long before Covid-19. The works this season shed light on important, personal stories and deal with this subject matter in many different and unique ways. From tongue in cheek comedies to absurdist tragedies, Experiments hopes to create a season that will destigmaify, enlighten and, yes, even entertain.