Emancipation

Description
Swinging nooses at the top of this remarkable production announce its twofold message: What you are about to see will be brutal—and the struggle is ongoing. Ty Jones’s drama tells the complex story of Nat Turner’s bloody 1831 slave rebellion; Jones (who portrays Turner) and director McElroen don’t flinch from its most difficult aspects. The questions raised by Turner’s actions are enacted and debated in a swift, poetically staged production, punctuated with powerful spirituals, African chants and (believe it or not) comic relief. Emancipation is not just bracing theater, but a timely plea for racial self-reflection.—Trav S.D.