Nat Turner in Jerusalem

A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Nat Turner in Jerusalem

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  2m

Nathan Alan Davis' timely new play imagines Nat Turner’s final night in a jail cell in Jerusalem, Virginia, as he is revisited by attorney and publisher Thomas R. Gray and they reckon with what has passed, and what the dawn will bring.

Nat Turner in Jerusalem

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2m
  • Duration
    Duration
    90 minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Period, Docudrama/History
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades
  • Winner! 2020 Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Award

Details

Summary
In August 1831, Nat Turner led a slave uprising that shook the conscience of the nation. Turner’s startling account of his prophecy and the insurrection was recorded and published by attorney Thomas R. Gray. Nathan Alan Davis writes a timely new play that imagines Turner’s final night in a jail cell in Jerusalem, Virginia, as he is revisited by Gray and they reckon with what has passed, and what the dawn will bring. Woven with vivid imagery and indelible lyricism, Nat Turner in Jerusalem examines the power of an individual’s resolute convictions and their seismic reverberations through time.
History
Nat Turner in Jerusalem premiered at the New York Theatre Workshop in New York City in September 2016 under the direction of Megan Sandberg-Zakian.
NAT TURNER – (M, Black, 30s) A religious leader, author of a slave uprising and now prisoner on the eve of his execution.
THOMAS R. GRAY – (M, White, 30s): A lawyer, rhetorician and now the author of Nat’s confession.
GUARD – (M, White, 30s): A jailor. Played by the actor playing Thomas Gray. 
  • Time Period 19th Century
  • Features Period Costumes
  • Additional Features No Intermission
  • Duration 90 minutes
  • Cautions
    • Strong Language

Media

“The sparse, persuasive two-hander examines America's racial history, but feels disturbingly close to the present day.” – The Village Voice

“The most interesting part of the creative exercise is not the activity inside Turner's cell, but the breadth of its implications about our relationship with history as a whole — whether 200 years past or flooding your Twitter feeds as we speak.” – TheaterMania, Read More 

“While offering a corrective to earlier interpretations of Turner’s narrative, Davis doesn’t attempt to saddle it with an equally overbearing one; he resists any singular reading, let alone an overtly political one. He prefers to let the tale remain as mysterious and open-ended as possible, and thus, in its way, more terrifying.” – New York Magazine, Read More 

“The sparse, persuasive two-hander examines America's racial history, but feels disturbingly close to the present day.” – The Village Voice, Read More 

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Licensing & Materials

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Authors

Nathan Alan Davis

Nathan Alan Davis is a playwright from Rockford, IL, now based in New York. His plays include Nat Turner in Jerusalem, Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea and The Wind and the Breeze. His work has been produced and developed by New York Theatre Workshop, McCarter Theatre, The Public ...
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