Open to Public / Antigone in Ferguson at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church
Antigone in Ferguson at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church
Translated and Directed by Bryan Doerries
Music Composed By Phil Woodmore
Free Event
This innovative project fuses dramatic readings by acclaimed actors of Sophocles’ Antigone with live choral musicperformed by a choir of activists, police officers, youth, and concerned citizens from Ferguson and New York City. Each performance culminates in a powerful, audience-driven discussion of race and gender-based violence and social justice.
Featuring a rotating cast of actors, including; Amy Ryan, Chris Noth, Paul Giamatti, Jumaane Williams, Zach Grenier, Kathryn Erbe, Obi Abili, Linda Powell, Josh Hamilton, and David Strathairn.
With the following guest choirs:
R.Evolucion Latina
Brooklyn Interdenominational Chorus
United Voices of Hope
The Guardians
Bethel Gospel Assembly
Abrons Arts
Songs of Solomon
This production is exclusively supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
About the play
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Antigone by Sophocles
Sophocles’ Antigone is an ancient play about a teenage girl who wishes to bury her brother, Polyneices, who recently died in a brutal civil war. Creon, the new, untested king, has ruled that Polyneices’ body must remain above the earth, and that anyone who breaks this law will be put to death. Antigone openly and intentionally defies his edict, covering her brother’s body with dirt and publicly declaring her allegiance to a higher law, one that transcends that of the state—the law of love. Creon is then forced, by his own political rhetoric, and the by fragile social order that he has barely begun to establish since the civil war, to make an example of his niece, by sentencing her to death. In the process of following through with his own decree, Creon loses everything. At its core, Antigone is a play about what happens when personal conviction and state law clash, raising the question: When everyone is right (or feels justified), how do we avert the violence that will inevitably take place?
Cast Members
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Diamond Jones
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David Strathairn
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Marjolaine Goldsmith
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Willie Woodmore
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Obi Abili
Event Partners
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RacismMothers of The MovementA conversation with Gwen Carr—mother of Eric Garner, author of This Stops Today—and Valerie Bell—mother of Sean Bell, author of Just 23—about their tireless work as Mothers of the Movement to end police violence.
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Racialized Police ViolenceAntigone in FergusonAntigone in Ferguson is a groundbreaking project that fuses dramatic readings by acclaimed actors of Sophocles’ Antigone with live choral music performed by a diverse choir, including activists, youth, teachers, police officers, and concerned citizens from St. Louis, Missouri and New York City, culminating in powerful, healing discussions about racialized violence, police brutality, systemic oppression, gender-based violence, health inequality, and social justice. Antigone in Ferguson was conceived in the wake of Michael Brown’s death in 2014, through a collaboration between Theater of War Productions and community members from Ferguson, MO, and premiered at Normandy High School, Michael Brown’s alma mater, in September of 2016.
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