Description: The Auburn Avenue Research Library, in collaboration with Actor’s Express, will host director Donya K. Washington (Alliance Theatre) and dramaturge Angela Farr Schiller, PhD (Stanford University and Kennesaw State University) in a discussion on the performance of race through the context of history, theatre and the Obie Award-winning play, An Octoroon, by playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. The New York Times praises An Octoroon as “This decade’s most eloquent theatrical statement on race.” In it, Jacobs-Jenkins reframes the 19th-century melodrama, The Octoroon by Dion Boucicault, with 21st-century cultural politics and blends theatrical styles in an exploration of the art form’s interplay with race and identity. Opening with a scene from the Atlanta production of An Octoroon, Donya K. Washington and Dr. Angela Farr Schiller share in discussion around the play’s themes, their relation to our state and local history, and why it’s still relevant today.

Event Start Date: {{EventDetails.EventDateStr}} {{EventDetails.StartTimeDateStr}}

Event End Date: {{EventDetails.EventEndDateStr}} {{ EventDetails.EndTimeDateStr}}