The Appropriation of Cultures
By Percival Everett
Originally released 8/3, 2021
Directed by Rami Margron with original music by Marcus Shelby
Percival Everett has said: “Since telling the South Carolina State Legislature in 1989 that I couldn’t continue my address because of the presence of such a conspicuous sign of exclusion [the confederate flag], I have not really considered South Carolina.” This is a wickedly subversive story, about symbols and their meaning. "The Appropriation of Cultures" was written in 1996, and published in Everett's 2004 story collection, Damned If I Do, by Graywolf Press.
This episode also features a conversation between director Rami Margron, composer Marcus Shelby, and dramaturg Lindsay Jenkins following the story.
CRedits
for The Appropriation of Cultures
Directed by Rami Margron
Cast:
Cassidy Brown*
Artis Fountaine
Safiya Fredericks*
Gwen Loeb*
David Everett Moore*
Composer: Marcus Shelby
Sound Design: Elton Bradman
Dramaturg, Line Producer: Lindsay Jenkins
Production Assistant: Kelley Ho
Pictures and Biographies Below
*Member AEA
Performed by permission of the author.
Author
Percival Everett (b. 1956) is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California and the author of nearly thirty books, including Erasure and I Am Not Sidney Poitier. He is recipient of many awards, among them the Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, the Dos Passos Prize, the PEN Center USA Award for Fiction, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. His most recent novel, Telephone, was a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Literature.
Production / Creative Team
Rami Margron (Director) is an actor, dancer, choreographer and occasional director based in Brooklyn. They spent a lot of their pre-pandemic time acting in plays in various American cities, most recently playing the title character in Hurricane Diane at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. You can also catch them on episodes of F.B.I., High Maintenance, Bull, For Life, New Amsterdam and Ray Donovan. Rami is also a co-creator an experimental film based on The Brothers Karamazov, which is in post-production.
Marcus Anthony Shelby (Composer) is a composer, bassist, bandleader, and educator who currently lives in San Francisco, California. His work focuses on the history, present, and future of African American lives social movements and music education. In 1990, Marcus Shelby received the Charles Mingus Scholarship to attend Cal Arts and study composition with James Newton and bass with Charlie Haden. Currently, Shelby is the Artistic Director of Healdsburg Jazz, an artist in residence with the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, and a past resident artist with the San Francisco Jazz Festival and the Healdsburg Jazz Festival. For more info, see marcusshelby.com
Elton Bradman’s (Sound Design) 2021 composer/sound designer credits include audio dramas (Aurora Theater’sThe Bluest Eye), student productions (ACT’s The House of Yes), Zoom theater (Actors Theaters’ Romeo & Juliet: Louisville 2020), podcasts (Z Space/Word for Word’s Retablos), filmed theater (San Francisco Playhouse’s Hieroglyph), hybrid visual/audio (New Conservatory Theater Company’s Interlude), and outdoor performances (Oakland Theater Project’s The Waste Land). He is currently teaching a sound design course for Western Washington University and co-writing a musical for Bay Area Children’s Theater and the Rose Theater in Omaha, Nebraska.
Lindsay “L.J.” A. Jenkins (Line Producer) is a dramaturg, educator and producer based in Los Angeles by way of Dallas, TX. Like many theatre practitioners, L.J. has performed a variety of roles over the years; however she considers her time as a middle and high school theatre teacher her most valuable experience. Though no longer a full-time teacher, L.J. still works as a Teaching Artist, engaging students at public and charter schools across Los Angeles. L.J. holds a Master of Arts degree in Theatre from California State University, Northridge. Her specific area of research is Black performance heritage, connecting past performances to contemporary experiences. L.J. has had the pleasure of working with universities, as well as organizations of various sizes including: The Playwrights Foundation, Naked Empire Bouffon Company, Critical Mass Performance Group, Cornerstone Theatre Company, and Center Theatre Group. She is the recipient of the 2020 Field Grant from the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas and is currently developing an audio drama with support from the Spotify SoundUp program. L.J. can also be found in the upcoming anthology Rhetoric, Politics, and Hamilton: An American Musical where she co-authored a chapter on “the eye” of history with Dr. Jade C. Huell. She’s dabbled in the film and television industry working on the Netflix show Astronomy Club and the upcoming film Judas and the Black Messiah. L.J is the Founder of Maroon Arts and Culture, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowerment through performance.
Kelley Ho (Production Assistant). Born and raised in Sacramento, Kelley Ho found her calling in the performing arts playing the flute and saxophone. At University of California, Irvine, she graduated with a BA in Drama (Honors in Directing) and a minor in Art History. After seven years of experience as a drum major including four national tours in a drum & bugle corps, she continues to teach marching band leadership students from all over the country. She currently resides in Brooklyn with her partner and their two kittens. She sends her love & gratitude to her family, friends, and Z Space. | bit.ly/kelleyho
Cast
Cassidy Brown was last seen with Word for Word in Lucia Berlin: Stories. He has worked all over the Bay Area and beyond at Berkeley Rep, Center Rep, Marin Shakes, Golden Thread, Theatre Works, Pacific Rep, Capital Stage, and SF Shakes, where he appeared in last summer's ground breaking virtual version of King Lear. He also co-hosts a spiritual comedy podcast called All the Answers and is hoping to return to his other love of improv comedy when we are allowed to share air with other humans again.
Artis Fountaine is considered to be one of the OG's in BayArea theater, having been a performer on and off for more than 35 years. He takes great pleasure in working with Word for Word again. Artis was involved last year in WORD'S Coronavirus Radio Broadcast productions at KALW of "The Blues I'm Playing,” a short story by Langston Hughes and the broadcast of "The Appropriation of Cultures" by Percival Everett. With his new found joy of podcasting and voiceover work, Artis hopes to be “on” again.
Safiya Fredericks was most recently seen onstage and virtually in the streaming production of Hieroglyph at SF Playhouse. She was a 2019 company member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and has also worked at ACT, Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep, and Cal Shakes where she was the recipient of the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actress for her work in Black Odyssey. You can also see her in the films Bitter Melon, Sorry to Bother You, and the upcoming I’m Charlie Walker.
Gwen Loeb is an award winning actress who has been featured in theaters across the Bay Area. Some of her recent productions include: Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest at Livermore Shakespeare Festival; Brenda in Can You Hear Me Baby with Prospect Theatre in New York; the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, and Audrey/Le Beau in As You Like It, at San Francisco Shakespeare Festival; Pauline in A Bright New Boise, and Babette in A Bright New Boise, and Babette in The Arsonists at Aurora Theatre Company. She is delighted to have this chance to work with Word for Word.
David Everett Moore is thrilled to be working with Word for Word once again! David has performed with many Bay Area theaters, including Aurora Theatre Company, Marin Theatre Company, Crowded Fire Theater, Marin Shakespeare Company, African-American Shakespeare Company, Perspective Theater Company, Livermore Shakespeare Festival, and San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, for whom he is currently performing (online) in King Lear. Regional credits include work with Capital Stage Company, Colorado Shakespeare Festival and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. Favorite roles include Addison in Safe House for Aurora Theatre Company, BJJ in An Octoroon for Capital Stage Company, and Black Man in We Are Proud to Present for Just Theater. David is a Resident Artist of the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival and a proud graduate of UC Berkeley, where he earned his BA in Theater and Performance Studies
