Appropriate — Cadence

Cadence Theatre Company and Virginia Repertory Theatre are pleased to present Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.

Winner of the 2014-2015 Obie Award for Best New American Play and nominated for an Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play Outer Critics Circle Award, Appropriate focuses on the reunion of the Lafayette family siblings as they return to their father’s dilapidated Arkansas plantation to settle the estate after his death. Toni, Bo, and their long-time estranged brother Franz, struggle to reconcile personal memories with tangible evidence of their father’s prejudice when they discover a photo album containing graphic, racist images among their father’s belongings. The discovery of several additional artifacts of racist memorabilia ignites a timely conversation about history, racial politics, memory, and the relationship between inheritance and trauma as each of the characters struggle to answer the play’s overarching question: ‘what do we do with our past?’

Appropriate engages audiences by asking tough questions without offering any easy answers. Associate Professor of Theatre and Africana Studies and Program Director of Africana Studies at The College of William and Mary, Artisia Green challenges us to consider how families and larger communities can engage in difficult conversations about how we “navigate our personal relationship to the complicated and troubling history of America's past, making sense of this history in order to better understand our present.” Skillfully borrowing elements from writers like Horton Foote, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neill, and Tracy Letts, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins effectively weaves his narrative through the absurdly comedic moments and eerie ghost story elements of Appropriate in order to create a play that poignantly poises questions about the collective American memory. The New York Times calls Appropriate a “fine, subversively original new play” that is “at heart, a ghost story in the most profound sense.”

Appropriate is directed by Anna Senechal Johnson (Cadence/Artistic Director—Rabbit Hole, Equus, A Lie of the Mind, Detroit). The talented cast includes Susan Sanford (Toni), Joe Pabst (Bo), Happy Mahaney (Frank/Franz), Tyler Stevens (Rhys), Katie Humphries (River), Jill Bari Steinberg (Rachael), Cole Johnson (Ainsley), Lola Muhlenfeld (Cassidy), Caroline Johnson (Cassidy), Grace Connell (Cassidy), and Bill Blair (The Man). Appropriate’s design team includes Rich Mason (Scenic Design), Michael Jarett (Lighting Design), Jesse Senechal (Sound Design), and Sarah Grady (Costume Design).

Appropriate is made possible through the generosity and support of Cadence Theatre Company’s Season Sponsor, Salomon & Ludwin and The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, and For the Love of Chocolate. Other major supporters include The Virginia Commission for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts, and Community Idea Stations.

Appropriate
By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
April 28–May 20, 2018 (Discounted Preview Performances April 25 and 27)
Show Times (7 p.m. TH, 8 p.m. FRI and SAT, 2 p.m. SUN)
Theatre Gym at the Virginia Rep Center
114 W. Broad Street Richmond, VA 23220
Talk Back Sunday: May 6 after the 2 p.m. matinee
Tickets are $10-$35, with discounts available for groups of 10 or more.

For single ticket information and for show times, contact www.virginiarep.org or call 282-2620.