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Lorraine Hansberry Experimental Theatre Laboratory

Our Performance.

Sara has a dream, but life just keeps happening in ways that seem to pull that dream further and further away at every turn, especially when she keeps losing the people she loves. Though she fights to hold on, determined to shake loose the haunting of many past lives, there’s a cost. There’s also a way to heal. But the choice to be well is often more difficult than it seems. 

This story is a multi-media, immersive, and interactive ritual experience set to the undeniable call of DC’s Gogo music, led by The Mayor, our funk conductor and “lead talker,” while the full cast of vibrant characters becomes The Pocket Roll Call, a percussive band of characters who fuel and foil Sara’s movements, no matter where she goes to escape. 

Synopsis

  • Sexual and reproductive autonomy

  • The impact of cultures of violence on mental health

  • The relationship between bodily autonomy, the state, and the nation

  • Gogo music and culture

  • Love and freedom

Themes

  • Grief and loss

  • Self and community care

  • Intergenerational tension and connection

  • Humanity’s relationship to the non-human (ancestors and nature)

  • Africana cosmologies, mythologies, and ritual

Nikki Speaking Out
Sara in Pieces
Roy and Sara Under the Tree
Talkback with Cast and Crew
Sara and Nikki's map
Roy and Sara
Destiny in Pieces
Sara's Love

Audience Testimonials

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Audience Testimonials |

  • "Amazing to see the evolution of this play, Gypsy and The Bully Door, since I first saw it at Capital Fringe years ago. It combines African Traditional Spirituality, grief and go-go, hitting on all my current preoccupations so well it almost feels like a message just for me ... Brava, Nina!"

    Natalie Hopkinson

    Don’t Mute DC

  • "So much life energy, tears, love, resources, time and spirit."

    Anita Gonzalez

    Playwright/ Librettist

  • “ You were CHANNELING. Wow. You truly did create a medicine, a powerful offering, something that looked and felt like you'd lived several lives to write. I was cooking greens (kale specifically) yesterday, thinking about what it takes to make something so bitter and so tough taste good. I was thinking about it in terms of art and the theme of your play, how you really have to sit with the bitter, let it simmer, take your time. the greens weren't as good as my mom's but I guess I gotta live a little more life to know how to really make them. All this to say: your play felt like a lesson on so many levels as well which I really appreciated.”

    Kendall Bryant

    Recent Georgetown alum

    The Red House

  • “As a theater maker and student, Gypsy and the Bully Door, was so inspiring to watch — the pace, dialogue, staging, performing, immersion, music and movement — so amazing, compelling, excellent storytelling! And that it wasn’t even a staged production yet! Like, this was the workshop?!?! Sigh, I was so moved. I cried in the last scene when Khadija came back and continued to right till the end, I was reminded about all the times I have been found and healed by women, and female friends, and during Destiny’s monologue, I felt her fatigue so deeply, i was reminded of every woman in my life. And grief for my own past, present, future selves. The whole production felt like it was produced by a family, everyone in the audience felt like a family by the end of it too, I hope you’re so proud ! 💗

    Ashanee Kottage

    Recent Georgetown alum

    The Earth Commons

    The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics

  • "I watched your play on Sunday and was absolutely blown away. like, it was legitimately life-changing for me and my spiritual practice and I have never felt so seen by a story. it's almost like you read my journal or listened to my conversations with the divine and my ancestors or something. specifically, that last part where she's saying "I choose..." I've had that same moment. I just had to burst out in tears. wow. first of all, thank you for your art.”

    Kendall Bryant

    Recent Georgetown alum

    The Red House

  • "So many gorgeous layers offered with such generosity and grace as well as unflinching honesty. The room was so alive with the energy of the brilliant company and your beautiful words, Nina. At a time where so much feels hard and broken - in the world at large and in our own immediate orbits - it felt so auspicious to have Woodshed and this beautiful work and the community gathered around it with such palpable love and gratitude. I know it's only just the beginning. Congratulations!"

    Derek Goldman

    The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics

  • Giiiiiiirrrrlah!!! You DID the damn thang!!! I cried at the end … soooo very proud of you my darling sister. Your talent precedes you, your gifts are abundant and the best truly is yet to come… thank you for being a voice that speaks so courageously to our world… God sees you and I always have… I love you!!"

    Sofale Ellis

    Visual Artist

  • "I’ve been meaning to write to congratulate you again on your spectacular, powerful, beautiful show. Even through livestream it was a profoundly moving experience; I could also feel the audience’s energy through the screen. I can’t wait to watch the recording again."

    Natsu Onada Power

    Director, Playwright, Set Designer

  • "I watched the live stream (and had me a good time in my hotel dancing to the go-go music :) I really enjoyed it. There were definitely a few moments that affected me on a very personal level ... Wish go-go was incorporated into more local plays. Really nice that you sort of used it to transition between scenes and almost signal to the audience how to feel. Dope line: 'Don't chase other people's dreams.' <--Needed to hear that ... I got in my feelings when the man and woman debated who should compromise their dreams for the sake of their relationship. This is a conversation I have night and day with Black women. I was yelling at my laptop 'no girl. no more sacrificing. no more unconditional forgiving. no more blind trust, etc. Let him be the one to compromise.and don't feel bad watching him do it.' Ok I almost went off on a rant here. LOL Anyway, thank you for opening up that door. Very necessary."

    Brandy Durham

    Playwright

Share Your Story!

If you saw our performance in person or joined us via livestream we’d love to hear your thoughts!