cullud wattah
cullud wattah
by Erika Dickerson-Despenza
Direction by Demetria Thomas
Auditions: Saturday, February 7 and Sunday, February 8 from noon-3pm. If you are unavailable at one of the listed days/times, please email us at info@atgr.org and we'll make accommodations for a video audition submission.
Location: Spectrum Theater at 160 Fountain NE
Callbacks: Sunday, February 15
Rehearsals: Will begin Monday, March 29. Rehearsals are generally weekday evenings for a 3-hour period of time between 6-10pm. If any weekend rehearsals are needed to accommodate cast availability, those would be scheduled for specific times that work for the team.
Performance Dates: May 7-9, 14-16 at 7:30; May 10 at 3pm
Audition Requirements: A perusal script is available here. Audition sides will be posted as soon as available but auditionees should be familiar with the story and the character arcs. Although sides do not need to be memorized, auditionees should prepare/be very familiar with them.
Characters:
All roles are open to individuals of all abilities, body sizes, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic statuses. Trans, nonbinary, and genderqueer actors highly encouraged to audition.
Plum: 9. Arithmetically sharp African American girl. Curious, intuitive, and wise. She is blue-blk-like a plum.
Marion: 34. A robust cinnamon-colored African American woman worn from caretaking. She is responsible, pragmatic, and status quo. A third-generation engine assembly line worker at General Motors. A widow. Plum and Reesee's mama.
Reesee: 17. A queer, brass African American young woman, devotee of Yemoja. Deeply curious about the spiritual nature of healing. A dancer and aspiring doula.
Big Ma: 60s. An elegant presence. A stern but deeply loving African American woman. The widowed patriarch of the Cooper family - but only in title. A Mississippi migrant with the south in her mouth; she often talks in pictures. Rooted in Blk Southern Baptist aesthetic that she finds herself queering.
Ainee: 37. A 34 weeks pregnant African American woman the color of pulled taffy. Addiction survivor. Frank, humorous, and slick-mouthed. A straight shooter. Fiercely maternal. The family historian and rebel interested in building political power. Marion's older sister.
Synopsis:
It’s been 936 days since Flint has had clean water. Marion, a third generation General Motors employee, is consumed by layoffs at the engine plant. When her sister, Ainee, seeks justice and restitution for lead poisoning, her actions reveal the toxic entanglements between the city and its most powerful industry, forcing their family to confront the cost of survival. As lead seeps into their home and their bodies, corrosive memories and secrets rise among them. Will this family ever be able to filter out the truth? cullud wattah is a haunting, lyrical, and unflinching portrait of the strength, resilience, and generational power of Black women in the face of environmental and systemic injustice.
*Michigan Premiere*
Winner of 6 prestigious awards including the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
About the Director:
Demetria Thomas earned a BA at Grand Valley State University, and her MFA from the University of Houston Professional Actor Training Program. Regional credits include Eunice in A Streetcar Named Desire at American Players Theatre, Chicken and Biscuits at Farmers Alley, Doubt at New Stage Theater, Mistress Page in Merry Wives of Windsor at Michigan Shakespeare Festival, Beatrice in Much Ado about Nothing and Gertrude in Hamlet both at Houston Shakespeare Festival. Television credits include guest appearances on Chicago Fire (NBC Universal) and as a series regular on APB (Fox TV). Directing credits include Our Lady of 121st Street at the University of Houston, Cadillac Crew at Ebony Road Players, as well as Boeing Boeing and Figaro at Hope Repertory. Demetria currently serves as Assistant Professor in Acting & Directing at GVSU.