Celeste Jennings

Contentious Woman is a work song. It’s full of dreams, of anticipating the workday to end, and soft off-days that still require work. Set in 1919 as well as present-day, 5 courageous Black women, who work as stemmers at a tobacco factory, navigate love and question what they want in life, and what ‘success’ means. Through poetry, song, dialogue, and choreography, they endure their laborious lives and make complex, yet necessary decisions.

Citrus is a choreopoem, or production composed of dance, poetry, and song, that follows emotional journeys of tribulation, struggle, and resilience among Black women from 1840 to the present day. The choreopoem, composed as an ensemble piece, is stitched together with 21 poems that address intersectionality and oppression experienced by Black women. The costumes, as well as the characters’ practice of rhythmically dressing and undressing onstage, aid in contextualizing these overarching themes. The choreopoem displays timeless issues such as sexual abuse, sexism, racism and unrequited love as well as specific historical accounts such as the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment, the story of the Little Rock Nine, and the strife associated with the Black Lives Matter movement. Citrus lacks a linear structure, or representation of a singular experience. It uses overlapping themes to inform, yet strategically entertain audiences. To uphold these aims, the nine characters all have equal amount of speaking parts and perform fluid characters that are meant to be diversely interpreted by the audience as well as by the performers. This writing ploy pulls focus to the individual narratives and subverts the idea that the show entirely represents the plight of all Black women. Citrus is an homage to Black women of the past, present, and future, and the heart of the play not only gently presents, but also sternly highlights the urgency and beauty between Black women across generations.

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After the civil war, a mother and a daughter search for family members who were sold or lost. In 1964, two friends lose touch when one abruptly moves North to avoid trouble. In the mid 70s, another pair of friends struggle to connect when one of them moves away to college and life changes both of them. Today, an artist tries to piece together her family’s stories through the silence. How can you honor your family’s history if you don’t know much about it? A poetic journey, following four generations of Black women wrestling to unearth a family’s past and build resilience for the future.

Processing is about the frustration that immigrants have with the U.S government, about the struggle of women of color in the economic industry, and the stress that these issues burden people’s lives with. In the course of the play Nia, Serena, and Jamal contemplate their position in the economics field and how to balance their lifestyle with their demanding career. Meanwhile, Enrique grapples with controlling his life while he awaits adjustment of status approval from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Serena, Jamal, and Nia’s battle to be equally recognized in their field is ongoing, Nia and Enrique’s stance on starting a family is evolving, and Enrique’s application to adjust his status from DACA recipient to green card holder is processing.