Parks’ play takes center stage

Suzan-Lori Parks, a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright will have her latest play, “In the Blood,” featured in Frank Hayden Hall during the week of Feb. 21 through the 24th.
Winning the Pulitzer in 2002 for her critically acclaimed play “Topdog/Underdog,” Parks has also written a screen play for Spike Lee’s movie “Girl 6” and plays “The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World” and “Venus.”
Dr. Aileen Hendricks, associate professor of speech, theater and English, and co-chair of Women’s Studies, she picked this play because, “I usually pick plays that are about women or by women. This one has both.”
The play, which has been dubbed as a modern day riff of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, is centered on Hester La Negrita, a single mother with five kids. Hester, who is not only homeless, but also illiterate, only knows the letter “A” and seeks support from her children-Jabber, Bully, Trouble, Beauty and Baby-who are described as the joy in her life.
Hester also depends on five adults in her life: her ex-husband, a social worker, her best friend, a doctor and a minister, who is also the father of her fifth child, Baby. The adults, who pose as an extended support group in Hester’s quest for literacy, hold her back and keep her in her homeless state. Despite all attempts of each of Hester’s support groups, neither can halt the play’s tragic end.
Several speakers are lined up to address themes in Park’s play. Wednesday night’s discussion will feature Cynthia Bryant, assistant professor of English, who will discuss black women’s sexuality. Thursday, Maxine Crump, a television journalist and host of Ascension on the Move, will be representing the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) with a discussion on race. And on Friday, Dr. Valeraray Irvin, a psychiatrist and director of Southern University’s counseling services, is slated to cover the play’s themes such as homelessness, single parenthood, child abuse, sexual promiscuity, illiteracy, religion, welfare and the responsibility of fathers.
“Single parenthood-ness is a touchy issue,” Irvin said. “If we think of young college students with children, we realize that they are dealing with hardships, but we see that they are trying to better themselves by getting a higher education,” Irvin said. “In Hester’s case, it’s very different because she has not one, but five children, the fact that she is illiterate is another issue as well.”
“In the Blood” is directed by Hendricks and is aimed towards a more mature audience. General admission is five dollars and three dollars for students with an ID.