Black Creek Risin'

A thunderous tale set in the ripe and sweltering summer bayou heat of 1920s Louisiana. When the Law of Prohibition rains down, resulting in the closing of her prominent juke joint called Black Creek, Mama Jakes, a majestic Black woman who, in order to survive, begins to bootleg her famous hooch with her business partner and musician, Willie Earl. Meanwhile, dealing with an outspoken sixteen-year-old daughter,...
A thunderous tale set in the ripe and sweltering summer bayou heat of 1920s Louisiana. When the Law of Prohibition rains down, resulting in the closing of her prominent juke joint called Black Creek, Mama Jakes, a majestic Black woman who, in order to survive, begins to bootleg her famous hooch with her business partner and musician, Willie Earl. Meanwhile, dealing with an outspoken sixteen-year-old daughter, the ever-changing landscape of American history, and a husband whose heart is hardened by the world, Mama Jakes must make some decisions that will set motion a chain of good life-changing events or some devastating consequences that will impact her entire family. Black Creek Risin’ is about love…magic..bootleggin’…and the dark secrets hidden in the backwoods of Louisiana.

This is the first installment of LaDarrion Williams’ Black Creek Trilogy.
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Black Creek Risin'

Recommended by

  • Ryan Stevens:
    27 May. 2019
    A fantastic, atmospheric, expressionistic story on family, music, American culture, and the bonds that hold people together and hold them down at the same time. This play is thrilling in how it focuses this story in tragic characters and tangible emotion that sears off the page.
  • Cassie Stokes-Wylie:
    13 Sep. 2018
    A finalist for the 2018 David Ross Fetzer Foundation for Emerging Artist Theatre Grant in partnership with Salt Lake Acting Company, BLACK CREEK RISIN' takes place in 1920s New Orleans with larger than life characters and exciting theatrical challenges. LaDarrion Williams is a skillful writer and has created a vivid world in which to play.

Character Information

  • Mama Jakes
    Mama Jakes: A strong and proud majestic black woman in her forties is a prominent bootlegger of an infamous whiskey. She was once an owner of a popping Juke Joint named Black Creek before the law of Prohibition hit.
  • Willie Earl
    A man of Haitian Creole descent. He is Mama Jakes's top seller and partner in bootlegging. He is a jazz player on his way to New York in a band and loves Mama Jakes.
  • Hoochie
    Mama Jakes's seventeen-year-old daughter who often thinks she's grown. She's a lot like her mother. Aspiring singer.
  • Jakes "JT" Talley
    Mama Jake's absent sharecropper of a husband who just comes back from Monroe.
  • Cat Jones
    A provocative twenty-five-year-old black woman who was once a waitress/singer. She is abused by her boyfriend and seeks solace with Mama Jakes.

Development History

  • Residency
    ,
    Great Plains Theatre Conference
    ,
    2019
  • Reading
    ,
    Self-Produced
    ,
    2018

Awards

Finalist
,
The David Ross Fetzer Foundation for Emerging Artists Grant
,
The David Ross Fetzer Foundation for Emerging Artists Grant
,
2018