Is God Is

Is God Is
Written byAleshea Harris
Date premieredFebruary 6, 2018 (2018-02-06)
Place premieredSoho Repertory Theatre
Original languageEnglish
GenreDrama, Tragedy

Is God Is is an American play by Aleshea Harris. In 2018 a production directed by Taibi Magar opened Off-Broadway at Soho Rep and ran from February 6 to March 11.[1] The play looks at deviant morality, familial dysfunction, being a black girl/woman, and patricide.[2][3]

Plot

Twenty-one-year-old African-American twin sisters Racine and Anaia were burned and scarred as babies. Racine has burn scars on her arms, back, and neck, and Anaia has scars on her arms, face, and neck. After receiving a letter in their apartment in Northeast, they journey to the Dirty South to the deathbed of their mother, who is known as "SHE" or "God" and has scars all over her body. SHE informs them that their father, referred to as “Man”, set the fire that burned the three of them. SHE instructs the sisters to go west to The Valley to find and kill him for revenge. The sisters travel to The Valley to face Man and his new family.

Reception

Is God Is received 3 Obie Awards: Playwriting for Aleshea Harris, Directing for Taibi Magar, and Performance for Alfie Fuller as Anaia and Dame-Jasmine Hughes as Racine.[4][5]

The play won the American Playwriting Foundation's Relentless Award in 2016. The award, issued to playwrights annually to honor Philip Seymour Hoffman, honored the play, noting its depiction of a revenge story that draws from "the ancient, the modern, the tragic, the Spaghetti Western, hip-hop and Afropunk". The cash prize of $45,000 is the largest cash prize in American theatre given, and about 2,000 un-produced plays were submitted.[6][7][8] The award gave Harris the opportunity to have stage readings in regional theaters across the country and abroad.

References

  1. ^ BWW News Desk. "Soho Rep. Announces Complete Casting And Creative Team For Aleshea Harris's IS GOD IS".
  2. ^ Sukop, Sylvia (20 June 2016). ""Responding to a world which no longer makes sense": An interview with playwright Aleshea Harris". HuffPost.
  3. ^ Chow, Andrew R. (31 July 2017). "Soho Rep Will Return to Its Longtime Theater With Two New Plays". The New York Times.
  4. ^ "Describe the Night, Will Swenson, Dominique Morisseau, More Win 2018 Obie Awards". Playbill.
  5. ^ ""Mary Jane" and "Is God Is" Achieve a Glorious Trifecta at the 63rd Obie Awards". Village Voice. 22 May 2018. Archived from the original on 13 August 2022. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  6. ^ "Playwright Aleshea Harris Wins Relentless Award". 23 November 2016.
  7. ^ "American Award, Prestige Abroad for Aleshea Harris - Creative Pinellas". creativepinellas.org. Archived from the original on 2018-01-25. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  8. ^ Coakley, Jacob (24 October 2016). "Aleshea Harris Wins 2016 Relentless Award - Stage Directions". Archived from the original on 8 October 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2021.