What happens when the two most recognizable nationally acclaimed local theatre companies in St. Louis collaborate?
A delightful treat for the audience’s ear.
June 25, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and St. Louis Black Repertory Company joined on Facebook Live and YouTube for a roundtable discussion titled, Telling the ‘Tale’ with Lynn Nottage, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.
Adena Varner, director of learning and community engagement of The Rep, moderated a conversation between Hana S. Sharif, Augustin Family artistic director of The Rep, Ron Himes, founder and producing director of The Black Rep and Nottage, who shared insight into two of her key works that will be featured at both companies.
Mlima’s Tale is being performed at the Rep now through July 11 at the Center of Creative Arts’ (COCA) Catherine B. Berges theatre. Sweat will open The Black Rep’s 45th season from Sept. 8-26 at Washington University’s Edison Theatre.
Varner asked Nottage how her inspiration behind Mlima’s Tale came about. Nottage said the idea came from conversations she and Oscar-winning film director Kathryn Bigelow had about the poaching of elephants. Once they saw that they were both interested about the subject matter they decided to raise more awareness about the issue.
“At the time when we began having that conversation poaching was really reaching catastrophic levels,” Nottage said.
“We were scared that in 10 years there literally would be no elephants left in the wild.“
With the story of Mlima’s Tale Nottage realized she couldn’t just tell the story of a magnificent animal’s death, she wanted to take a deep dive into the story of all the hands who touched the animal—from the person who killed the elephant to the consumer.
“While I was writing Mlima’s Tale I also realized that I was really telling the story of climate change, a shrinking ecosystem, poverty, and Africa,” Nottage said. “It covers what deforestation is doing to the people of Africa and how the competition for food between wild animals and human beings leads to the poaching of the magnificent elephant at the center of Mlima’s Tale.”
Sharif has found that audience members at The Rep always leave the theatre feeling profoundly open after seeing Mlima’s Tale. She said they tend to question themselves, especially people who didn’t fully understand the depth of the effect poaching has on elephants.
“Some folks are questioning the ivory in their own homes and reflecting on their last experiences,” Sharif said. “Those who have been on a safari notice the majesty of the heart and epic nature of these creatures.”
According to Nottage, when fans come to The Black Rep’s production of Sweat they can expect to watch the story of a close-knit group of friends who work at a steel factory in Reading, Pennsylvania, unfold. All while being locked out of their factory due to corporate greed, they experience racism in unexpectedly violent ways.
After an interaction in 2011 with a close friend who was in dire straits due to her finances, Nottage knew she had to do something. At the time she went to Occupy Wall Street to share her frustrations about the economic inequalities transpiring in the Zucotti Park. She found that impact still wasn’t powerful enough, so she took a trip to Reading, Pennsylvania, which was what she described as one of the poorest cities in America. There she met with the mayor, police chief and other members of the community to learn about what was happening in the city.
“I noticed whenever people talked about Reading they never spoke in present tense, it was always Reading was,” Nottage said. “I knew I wanted to tell this story of a fractured American town that was fractured along racial economic lines.”
When Himes and his wife first saw the beginning of Sweat he thought he was in the wrong place, but as the scene progressed he thought the meaning behind it was a “very good place.”
“Lynn’s production has a voice that I love,” Himes said. There’s a way that she deals with and speaks to humanity that has a voice some don’t have.”
Supporters of Nottage can look forward to The Watering Hole, an immersive installment that reimagines an interactive and collaborative space for BIPOC theatre makers to make their art better represented post-pandemic; a comedy titled “Clyde’s,” about a group of formerly incarcerated people working at a sandwich shop owned by the devil; and MJ: The Musical, a nontraditional musical, with music from Michael Jackson’s catalog.
For more information about Mlima’s Tale, visit The Rep’s website: http://www.repstl.org/events/detail/mlimas-tale.
Visit The Black Rep’s website for more information about its current season: https://theblackrep.org/.
