Season 16

by Dominique Morisseau

Directed by Raymond O. Caldwell

Choreographer Tiffany Quinn

When a black student disrupts the status quo at her high school by occupying space typically reserved for white students, her community erupts in hate speech, violence, and chaos. Inspired by the Jena Six case, which roiled tensions in Louisiana in 2006, Morisseau’s play scrutinizes the intrinsic links between justice, bias, and identity. Moving, lyrical, and bold, Blood at the Root probes the complexities of race, individual freedoms, and what justice means when biases have been normalized.

You ever look up one day and realize you been doin’ the same thing for so long, you ain’t even sure why? Like you just followin’ rules and ain’t never stop to question — why it’s a rule in the first place?

…Way some people talk the way they talk, or hang out with who they hang out with, or love who they love, or hate who they hate — it all got roots. It feel halfway comfortin’ knowin’ it ain’t just start with us.