By Kandace James
Directed by Iyanna Huffington Whitney
Yale Summer Cabaret
2024
Set Designer: Patti Panyakaew
Costume Designer: T.F. Dubois and Rea J. Brown
Lighting Designer: Ankit Pandey
Sound Designer: Constant Dzah
Projection Designers: Doaa Ouf
Technical Directors: Shannon Dodson
Stage Manager: Steph Burke
The story follows Haddie, an enslaved person, as she flashes through lifetimes of Blackness, finding her way to speak, finding her way to freedom.Â
Throughout the time jumps we see how sacred rituals and spaces Black people lift their spirits. They connect through hair, art, music, dance, food, and even just a head nod or a smile. Haddie's quilt also travels from generation to generation with her descendants. As the pattern of her "heaven"--a purple sky with fireflies leading the way to freedom--is slowly being revealed at the end, this quilt is the center of the story and thus creates an ethereal space for Blackness.
Photo Credits: Patti Panyakaew and Allyse Corbin
Storyboard Sketches
Quilt Design