generations
generations
  • Soho Rep & PlayCo Present

generations

by debbie tucker green
directed by Leah C. Gardiner
composition, arrangement & music direction by Bongi Duma
in association with John Adrian Selzer

October 1 2014 - November 23 2014

“I coached her to cook – I did… I was the cooker – she was the cookless – I was the cooker who coached the cookless… I… coached her to (cook)… She was a bad learner.”

You’re invited into a kitchen in a South African township where a fragrant meal is being prepared. As they cook, three generations of a close-knit family banter, share stories and food. Both urgent and exuberant, debbie tucker green’s formally daring play tackles what’s transmitted and lost through generations of a family—and a nation.

generations reunites playwright debbie tucker green and director Leah C. Gardiner following their 2011 Obie award-winning production of born bad and features a 13-person choir led by Bongi Duma (Broadway’s The Lion King).

Special Video from the GENERATIONS Choir

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  • Special Video from the GENERATIONS Choir

  • The Village Voice

    “A celebration and an elegy.”

  • Time Out New York. Four stars. Critics’ Pick.

    “Searing…a devastating aria.”

  • Flavorpill

    “generations needs to be experienced.”

  • WNYC

    “The formal structure transforms the piece from a simple story about one family to an almost-mythic tale about all families. For a show that runs only 30 minutes — for any show, really — it’s a remarkable feat.”

  • The New Yorker

    “generations is not even an hour long, but it is filled with so much warmth and thought that the feeling it imparts lasts a longtime after you’ve left the theatre.”

  • The New York Times, Critics' Pick

    “A singular theatrical experience…aided by a wonderful cast. The play reverberates in your mind and heart long afterward, like the taste of a great meal that you savor for days.”

  • Top 10 of 2014, Charles Isherwood, The New York Times

Cast

Mamoudou Athie

Boyfriend

Shyko Amoa

Girlfriend

Khail Toi Bryant

Junior Sister

Ntombikhona Dlamini

Mama

Michael Rogers

Dad

Thuli Dumakude

Grandma

Jonathan Peck

Grandad

Elijah Caldwell

Choir

Jasmine Holloway

Choir

Michael Howard-Dossett

Choir

Darell J. Hunt

Choir

Jonathan D. Kirkland

Choir

Ismael Kouyaté

Choir

John Lucas

Choir

Thakabasadi Sato Machioudi

Choir

Reitumetse Rita Motlhanka

Choir

Silindile Sokutu

Choir

Tanyaradzwa A. Tawengwa

Choir

Electra Weston

Choir

Tanya Nomaziko Zondo

Choir

Creative Team

debbie tucker green

Playwright

Leah C. Gardiner

Director

Bongi Duma

Composition, Arrangement & Music Direction

Arnulfo Maldonado

Set Designer

Asta Bennie Hostetter

Costume Designer

Matt Frey

Lighting Designer

Matt Tierney

Sound Designer

George Hoffmann & Greg Kozatek

Props & Set Dressing

Anna Demenkoff

Musical Instrument Designer

Ron Kunene

Dialect Coach

Daaimah Mubashshir

Assistant Director

Rachel Fae Szymanski

Assistants Lighting Designer

Tanyaradzwa A. Tawengwa

Assistant Musical Director

Anshuman Bhatia

Assistant Set Designer

Sachi Masuda

Assistant Costume Designer

Marisa Levy

Production Stage Manger

Hannah Sullivan

Assistant Stage Manager

Chip Rodgers

Associate Producer

Raphael Martin

Associate Producer & Dramaturg

Jeff Drucker

Production Manager

Sduduzo Ka-Mbili

Community Partner

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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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