Sweet Jenn: A Living Exhibit

 

Redeeming History Theatricals

Presents

Sweet  Jenn : A Living Exhibit

A One Act Historical Bio-Play

Written and performed by : Lakeetha Blakeney (Executive Artistic Director)

Email: rht1865@gmail.com  

 

Phone 704-456-8722

About the Show:

The production’s mission is to help raise awareness about a time in our past, to shed light on the female slave narratives that have been captured in American Literature and yet are rarely explored, and to continue conversation on this difficult topic. Lakeetha has expertly woven the various narratives into a dramatically-layered  and  lyrical one-woman show.

                                               The Set - Designed by Todd Schaefer

A Synopsis

Sweet Jenn: A Living Exhibit takes us back in time to the antebellum south a few years before emancipation, when General Benjamin Butler refused to return runaway slaves to their masters calling them “contraband of war”. We meet  Jenny Butler, a slave who opens the window to her life and shares a piece of her soul with us, she is doing her best to go on with life while she awaits the  return of her love Charles and her lost children. Sweet Jenn is a story of love, heartache, triumph and Hope. Her story is intended not only to reach the emotions of the audience, but to educate. To educate them on what it meant to be an African American woman in the antebellum south and the courage it took to survive.

Sweet Jenn is the manifestation of several years of reading female slave narratives from all over the Antebellum south. The Jenny Butler character was built from the lives of several slave women from North and South Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, and Missouri.

                                      

It is a 40 minute piece including songs and with a twenty minute talk back to allow the audience a chance to express their thoughts and feelings. It would make a wonderful addition to your programming.

About the Artist:

 

  Lakeetha Blakeney is a local actress/writer who has been working in St Louis theater since moving here from Concord, North Carolina. She has performed many roles with Imaginary Theater Co., The Black Repertory Theater of St. Louis, and others.  She is thrilled to be given so many opportunities to present Sweet Jenn: A Living Exhibit.