Spotlight on New Work: SPOOK

In the rehearsal room with SPOOK

Night of New Works can spark conversations that an ensemble or audience wouldn't have had otherwise. In our final team lead spotlight, we talk with Suzanne Victoria Cross and Ricardo Beaird. They both co-lead the new work SPOOK, premiering September 10th - 12th at the Bryant Lake Bowl.

---

What are the main themes and/or questions you are exploring in SPOOK? Why are they important to talk about through art right now?

Ancestral pain and trauma courses through our veins and aches in our bones. This pain manifest in ways not yet known or deemed appropriate for public expression. It is important to us that this pain and process is explored. This ghost story aims to explore how one seamstress is able to adapt, assimilate, and cope with the trauma of anti-blackness and simply living as a black woman.
A few more questions, we wanted to explore: In what manner does one grieve when their loss might not be acknowledged? Why are black folx left out of the horror genre when our history is a literal American Horror Story?

What is one thing in your process so far that has surprised you?

During one of our first rehearsals, we did a talking circle where we opened space for the ensemble to express anything that was bubbling up for them that day. So many themes and situations that they brought up mirrored the themes and situations we wanted to explore in the text. This is before we laid out any of the questions we wanted to address to the ensemble. It was incredible!

If your show was a cocktail or beverage, what would it be?

A Hot Toddy! A medicinal beverage that carries a vice. Comforting and biting.

---

Night of New Works

Experience three new works created by Beth Ann Powers, Ricardo Beaird, Suzanne Victoria Cross, Jex Arzayus, Sabrina Crews, and Steven Michael Hall. All three pieces performed each night.

September 10 - 12, 2018 at 7:30 PM
Bryant Lake Bowl & Theater
810 W Lake St, Minneapolis, MN 55408

Sliding Scale Tickets: $5 - $20

GET TICKETS>>>