AMERICAN ROT at La MaMa Experimental Theater Club, March 14-31, 2024
Set in a diner off the New Jersey turnpike, two historically-linked American families explore the roots of their trans-generational trauma through difficult conversations on racism and white supremacy. Stricken with guilt, Jim Taney, a descendant of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, who penned the infamous Dred Scott decision of 1857, offers an apology to the family of Walter Scott, a descendant of the formerly enslaved Dred Scott. Walter, and a Chorus of other characters, investigate why an apology alone will not absolve Jim. As protest theater, the play confronts the concept of white “wokeness”, the boundaries of white liberalism and unveils the shared national consequences of white supremacy; serving as an entryway into a dialogue on reparations.
TICKETS:
https://www.lamama.org/shows/american-rot-2024
PRESS:
https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-off-broadway/article/Cast-Set-For-AMERICAN-ROT-at-La-MaMa-20240220Writer: Kate Taney Billingsley
Music: Kate Taney Billingsley, Tyler Bernhardt and Dag Markhus / Lyrics: Kate Taney Billingsley
Director: Estelle Parsons
Producers of AMERICAN ROT DEVELOPMENTAL LLC: Richard D’Avino and Pamela Murphy
Associate Producer: Myla Pitt
Choreographer: William Whitener
Set Designer: Christina Weppner
Lighting Designer: Victor En Yu Tan
Costume Designer: Molly Maginnis
CAST:
JIM TANEY: John L. Payne
WALTER SCOTT: Count Stovall
CHIEF STANDING BEAR/JESUS: Francisco Solorzano
BECKI: Suzanne Di Donna
NANCY: Myla Pitt
JACQUI: Richarda Abrams
ALVA: Aprella Godfrey-Barule
UJIMAA: DeAnna Supplee
DJ: Lawrence Stallings
CAREY: Jason Furlani
ROGER BROOKE TANEY: Timothy Doyle
DRED SCOTT: Leland Gantt
TOM: Lash Dooley
CARLOTTA: Burnadair Lipscomb-Hunt
AMERICAN ROT 