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PATE cast for "An Echo in the Bone": Front row - Rasheeda Wahid, Lynda Mwakisha, Alicia Cleveland. 2nd row - J.L. Mooreshine, Madison Ledyard-King. 3rd row - Daylon Hill, Tawandga Howell, Mathew Bowen  

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Press Release

Title:  Where is Crew? Who killed Mas’ Charles? The Pan-African Theatre Ensemble performs Dennis Scott’s An Echo in the Bone

The Pan-African Theatre Ensemble will perform the 1974 Caribbean classic, a Jamaican play, An Echo in the Bone by Dennis Scott, directed by D. Amy-Rose Forbes-Erickson in the African Community Theatre opening on Thursday, November 15, 2018 at 7pm.

An Echo in the Bone is about a poor farming family in rural Jamaica in 1937– with a father, “Crew,” mother, “Rachel,” and two sons “Jacko” and “Son Son,” and Jacko’s wife “Bridget” - all descendants of enslaved Africans who continue to live and work on a sugar plantation in abject poverty after slavery ended in 1834. The play takes place during a nine night ceremony, a traditional African Jamaican ritual to usher departed loved ones to the afterlife. In the play, Mas’ Charlie is dead. Everyone suspects that Crew killed Mas’ Charlie, ran away, and disappeared for now nine days. His wife, Rachel believes that her husband Crew is dead, and decides to have a nine night ritual in his honor. In the play, the nine night ceremony explores what happened to Crew and to all the African ancestors through ritual spirit possession. Crew and the ancestors return to speak through the living from a 1792 capture on a slave ship off the coast of West Africa to Crew’s existence on a Jamaican sugar plantation in 1937.

An Echo in the Bone examines the burden of the greater crime: the crime of Crew killing the white plantation owner, or the crime of slavery against enslaved peoples that led to Crew killing Mas’ Charlie in defense of his family’s survival.

Playwright:

Dennis Scott (1939-1991) was an acclaimed Caribbean playwright, poet, director, dancer, and actor born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1939. Scott was the Head of Directing at the Yale University School of Drama (1986-1991), and Director of the Jamaica School of Drama in Kingston, Jamaica (1977-1983). He was one of the original dancers in the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica, founded by Professor Rex Nettleford in 1962. Scott taught theatre widely in the Caribbean, England, and the United States; and his plays were regularly produced at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Connecticut, U.S.A..Scott’s many honors included the Shubert Playwrighting Fellowship (1970), the International Poetry Forum Award (1973), and several gold and silver medals for playwrighting and directing.

Director:

D. Amy-Rose Forbes-Erickson is in her third year as founder and artistic director of the Pan-African Theatre Ensemble. Recent directing credits include The Purple Flower by Marita Bonner, Vejigantes by Francisco Arrivi, Venus by Suzan-Lori Parks, Tahinta! by Efua Sutherland, and The Bacchae of Euripides by Wole Soyinka. Dr. Forbes-Erickson is the Director of the African Community Theatre, and an Assistant Professor of Pan-African Studies. Her research includes areas in theatre history, literature, text, criticism, theory, performance studies, directing and devising with digital media. Her expertise is in Pan-African and Global Black theatres with representations of race, Black women, and African performance elements in theatre.

What:

An Echo in the Bone by Dennis Scott

Directed by:

D. Amy-Rose Forbes-Erickson

​

Featuring P.A.T.E. Actors:

Rasheedah Wahid - Rachel

J. L. Moreshine – Son Son/Crew

Madison Ledyard-King – Jacko and Rattler

Latoya Gooden – Bridget

Tawandga Howell – Madam

Alicia Cleveland – Lally

Lynda Mwakisha – P

Daylon Hill - Rattler

Mathew Bowen – Dreamboat

C’Erra Wingo – Stone

When:

Thursday, November 15, 2018 at 7pm

Where:

The African Community Theatre,

Room 230, Oscar Ritchie Hall

225 Terrace Drive

Kent, OH 44242

Tel: (330) 672-2100

Box Office Info

Tickets:

$10: Buy tickets here www.kent.edu/pas/act

Entrance is free to students, faculty and staff. Reserve free tickets here: www.kent.edu/pas/act

Group reservations are by special arrangements and on a first-come, first-served basis. Please contact D. Amy-Rose Forbes-Erickson at dforbese@kent.edu or (330) 672-0082

Special Events

Post-Show Discussion Thursday, Nov. 15 after 7pm show – An Echo in the Bone - Facebook Live

GoFundMe page in support of the Pan-African Theatre Ensemble’s performance at the Fringe Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland in August 2019.

https://www.gofundme.com/pate-going-to-the-fringe

Pan-African Theatre Ensemble - Dramatic Reading of Malcauchon,or Six in the Rain by Derek Walcott. Directed by D. Amy-Rose Forbes-Erickson on Thursday, November 29 at 2:30pm – Free to all.in the African Community Theatre.

Fulani Institute Academics and Arts - The Calabash Kids - A Tale of Tanzania by Aaron Shepard. Directed by Dr. Asantewa Sunni-Ali on Saturday, December 8, 2018 at 2pm - $5 – Free to KSU students, and youth 12 and under.

About The Pan-African Theatre Ensemble (P.A.T.E.)

The Pan-African Theatre Ensemble is an African-based theatre company using African performance elements in Pan-African and Global Black plays in the Department of Pan-African Studies, Kent State University. We produce two to three productions an academic year. P.A.T.E. members include Kent State University students, staff, and community volunteers from Northeast Ohio. P.A.T.E is actively recruiting volunteer actors for its community outreach and theatre in Northeast Ohio. No prior experience required. For membership info, please contact Dr. Forbes-Erickson at dforbese@kent.edu or (330) 672-0082.

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