born bad
born bad

born bad

by debbie tucker green
directed by Leah C. Gardiner

March 31 2011 - May 7 2011

“Dawta says it’s the truth, but other family members remember differently.” 

At once epic and domestic, tucker green’s explosive drama follows one family trying to make sense of their past. Told with humor and inventive form, born bad was performed to great acclaim in the UK winning the Olivier Award for Best New Play.

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  • Two 2011 OBIE Awards for BORN BAD

    debbie tucker green for Playwriting
    Leah C. Gardiner for Directing

  • Village Voice

    …you’re unlikely to see anything as emotionally searing onstage this season.

  • L Magazine

    …rhyming, rapping and slipping into Jamaican accents without missing a beat… so strong and dynamic… green is a born playwright.

  • The New York Times

    Acted with fiery feeling by a superb cast… directed with incisive clarity by Leah C. Gardiner… this intense, stylized drama hits you like a triple shot of espresso… excited by the play’s formal invention, moved by its coiled emotional power.

  • New York Magazine

    … [an] upsettingly funny family portrait… webs of alliance, jealousy, and betrayal suggest a tragedy of almost Grecian size without once having to declare it.

  • Backstage

    It’s essential and stunning theater. [Born Bad] rings with the clarion force of the trumpet calls that brought down the walls of Jericho.

Cast

Quincy Tyler Bernstine

Sister #1

Crystal A. Dickinson

Sister #2

Elain Graham

Mum

LeRoy James McClain

Brother

Michael Rogers

Dad

Heather Alicia Simms

Dawta

Creative Team

debbie tucker green

Playwright

Leah C. Gardiner

Director

Mimi Lien

Set Design

Paul Tazewell

Costume Design

Michael Chybowski

Lighting Design

Matt Sherwin

Sound Design/Original Music

Raphael Martin

Dramaturg

Jaime Lincoln Smith & Charlotte Fleck

Dialect

Beth Stegman

Production Stage Manager

Lily Perlmutter

Assistant Stage Manager

Robert Saenz de Viteri

Production Manager

Liz Thaler

Assistant Director

Kara Harmon

Assistant Costume Designer

Justin Partier

Assistant Lighting Designer

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Project Number One

Project Number One was initially launched in 2020 as a job creation program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and record unemployment in our field. It was also an experiment in prioritizing living wages for artists, even when faced with extraordinary challenges.
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