A Marathon Every Sunday
Posted by Claire Peters on 4/06/2010
(Claire Peters is the Marketing Apprentice at Steppenwolf)
The past few months, I’ve been coordinating The Brother/Sister Plays Marathon Sundays. The idea was to create a collective experience similar to that of Angels in America, where the audience would spend an extended period of time together, and the shared occasion would inspire discourse amongst themselves between shows. The Marathon Sundays prix-fixe dinners (and subsequent conversations and communities that emerge) happen at Landmark Grill + Lounge every week between matinee and evening performances, and on five select dates, we have special events where we add to the ideas and themes in the trilogy.
One of our initial ideas was to bring in an expert on Yoruba culture. So I did a Google search and stumbled upon Professor David Doris at the University of Michigan who teaches African Art and Aesthetics and Yoruba Culture. I’ve been in touch with him via email since November to coordinate an event. A few weekends ago, he came to Chicago for the weekend to see the shows, the space and the city. I met with him to talk about the shows and hear his ideas for his presentation.
As a professor, David knew just how to prepare. He had notes, photos and a powerpoint, and I felt like I was transported back to school for a lecture. This lecture, however, wasn’t how I remembered typical dry lectures. It was instead fascinating and revealing, and I found myself excitedly making connections and asking questions during his presentation. The more he spoke about Yoruba culture, the more I understood about Tarell’s plays, the characters and even the costume choices (Marcus’ backwards hat in Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet is a direct call to Yoruba religion… but I’m not revealing why).
Although I had seen the trilogy several times when I met with David, I knew I had to go back and see it again with my newfound knowledge. The plays took on an even deeper significance as I saw the depth of this culture in Tarell’s work. This happened after other Marathon Sunday events, too. When E. Patrick Johnson spoke about his play, Sweet Tea - Black Gay Men of the South, I understood so much more about the black gay experience in the south, which also really bettered the shows for me.
I’m excited for the remaining two Marathon Sunday special events: Exploration of Yoruba Culture on April 25 and A Celebration of Tarell McCraney’s Wig Out! on May 9. I definitely encourage you to come to one or both of the events, whether you’ve seen the shows yet or not. And if you haven’t seen the shows yet, here’s the perfect opportunity to see all of them in one shot and become part of a Marathon Sunday community.