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Spunk

Three Tales by Zora Neale Hurston Apr 30 - Jun 23, 2019

Based on three short stories of Zora Neale Hurston (Their Eyes Were Watching God) and adapted by Jelly’s Last Jam writer George C. Wolfe, Spunk sets the human ability to endure to the strums of a guitar in a stirring musical fable.

An unearthly Guitar Man and Blues Speak Woman tantalizingly interweave three tales of the early 20th century African American experience, from the fierce determination of a resilient washerwoman, to the zoot suit struts of 1940s Harlem, to the bittersweet innocence of young married love.

Glowing with wit, humor and energy, resonating with evocative staging and soulful music, three tales of survival are told in the key of the blues.

“The primal potency of the blues and the story-telling wizardry of Zora Neale Hurston weave a blissful magic.” – SF Gate

Three Tales by Zora Neale Hurston
Adapted and Directed by George C. Wolfe
Music by Chic Street Man
Directed by Timothy Douglas
#SigSpunk
#SigSpunk
  • Run Time

    Run time approximately 1 hour and 38 minutes including one 15 minute intermission.

  • Content Warnings

    Contains a racial slur and depictions of domestic violence.

Specialty Nights

Discussion Nights

May 29 & June 4, 2019

Pride Nights

May 31 & June 7, 2019

Open Captioning

June 2, 2019 at 2PM

Cast Members

Iyona Blake

Iyona Blake

Blues Speak Woman

SIGNATURE: Ain't Misbehavin' (Armelia McQueen), Scottsboro Boys (The Lady understudy), Titanic (Caroline Neville), Jelly’s Last Jam (Gran Mimi). OFF-BROADWAY: June Havoc Theater & Terrace Theater/Kennedy Center: Soul on Fire the Musical (Gabriel/Eva Mae). DC AREA: Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (Lady Day), The Mistress Cycle (Lulu White), The Wizard of Oz (Glinda), Blues in the Night (The Lady), Caroline, or Change (Caroline Thibodeaux), Once on This Island (Asaka), Shout! The Mod Musical (Green Girl), Thunder Knocking on the Door (Good Sister);Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Armelia McQueen), Black Nativity (As Cast). AWARDS: 2017 Helen Hayes Award Winner for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical, BroadwayWorld’s Washington, DC Award Winner for Best Actress in a Musical for a Small Professional Theater. www.iyonablake.com

Marty Austin Lamar

Folk Man 2

OFF-BROADWAY: Ms. Ever’s Boys. INTERNATIONAL: Lysistrata. DC AREA: Olney Theatre Center: Elf; The Kennedy Center: On the Brink, Let Freedom Ring Concert; Studio Theatre: Choir Boy. REGIONAL: Portland Center Stage: Ragtime; Wethervane Theatre: Ain’t Misbehavin’, Hairspray; Hippodrome State Theatre: College: The Musical, A Christmas Carol; Phillips Center for the Performing Arts: La Traviata; The Essential Theatre: Dreamgirls. TV: Law and Order, Invega. FILM: Silent Dove. Proud member of the Actor’s Equity Association

Jonathan Mosley-Perry

Guitar Man

THEATRE: The Chicken Shack, Ms. Evers Boys, A Christmas Carol, Julius Caesar, In-Laws, Koffi’s Story, Watch Out God’s Watching Your Mouth, A Tribute to Langston Hughes, The Corner, Gangstas Over Harlem, Gospel Nights, Good Times, Black Nativity, The Amen Corner, The Me Nobody Knows. FILM/TV: One Penny, 15 Minutes, The Tunnel, Yesterday’s Gods, Leaving Home, Room for Two, Legit, Growing Up Fisher, Get Thee Behind Me, Nuestro Barrio. EDUCATION: BFA Theatre NC A&T State University, Aaron Speiser Acting Studio, Anthony Gilardi Acting Studio.

Ines Nassara

Ines Nassara

Folk Woman

SIGNATURE: Spunk, Crossing, Aftershock (Signature in the Schools), SKBSTD reading, U.G.L.Y. reading. NEW YORK: Kate Spade Summer Campaign Launch Commercial (Vocalist), BGVs for Cynthia Erivo: Today Show, AJ Mitchell: MTV VMA’s, 54 Below: Wildwood Reading; DC AREA: Keegan Theatre: HAIR (Helen Hayes nomination Best Supporting Actress); Ford’s Theatre: Freedom’s Song, 110 in the Shade, Ragtime (Helen Hayes winner: Ensemble), The Wiz (Helen Hayes Nomination: Ensemble); Kennedy Center Washington National Opera: Lost in the Stars; Olney Theatre Center: Once on this Island. EDUCATION: Towson University BA in Sociology/Anthropology and Music Performance

KenYatta Rogers

Folk Man 1

DC AREA: Ford’s Theatre: Death of a Salesman, Jitney; Arena Stage: King Hedley II, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Round House Theatre: Gem of the Ocean, Father Comes Home From the Wars, Two Trains Running, Glengarry Glen Ross (Helen Hayes nomination), Eurydice, A Wrinkle in Time, A Lesson Before Dying; Everyman Theatre: Topdog/Underdog, A Raisin in the Sun; Olney Theatre Center: Colossal, Venus; Forum Theatre: Holly Down in Heaven; Woolly Mammoth Theatre: Fever/Dream; Folger Theatre: Comedy of Errors; Theatre Alliance: Insurrection: Holding History. REGIONAL: Shakespeare and Company: Coriolanus; Trustus: The Piano Lesson. EDUCATION: University of Pittsburgh, MFA. TEACHING: Montgomery College, Theatre (2014 Maryland Professor of the Year).

Drew Drake

Folk Man 3

DC AREA: Folger Theatre: The Winter’s Tale. REGIONAL: River and Rail: The Unusual Tale of Mary and Joseph’s Baby; Clarence Brown Theatre: South Pacific, Titus Andronicus, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Threepenny Opera, Of Mice And Men; Westcoast Black Theatre: Jitney. EDUCATION: University of Tennessee, MFA, 2016

Creative Team

Mark G. Meadows

Mark G. Meadows

Musical Direction by

he/him SIGNATURE: Director of Signature Cabarets; Music Direction: The Color Purple, RENT, After Midnight, Spunk, Ain’t Misbehavin’; Jelly’s Last Jam. Apollo Productions: ELLA, An American Miracle. Kennedy Center: Acoustic Rooster REGIONAL: Oregon Shakespeare Theatre: Once on this Island. Denver Center for the Performing Arts: Choir Boy, Wildfire. LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE: Associate Music Direction: The Outsiders.  ALBUMS: Be the Change, To the People, Somethin’ Good, A Child is Born. CONCERTS: Jazz at the Lincoln Center, DC Jazz Festival, Blues Alley, The Kennedy Center, Smalls Jazz, The Strathmore. INTERNATIONAL: Haiti, Russia, The Congo, Qatar, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Canada, The Caribbean. APPEARED WITH: Cynthia Erivo, Usher, Bobby McFerrin, Kendrick Lamar, Kamasi Washington, Nicholas Payton, Kurt Elling, Ledisi. AWARDS: 2020 DC Wammies Jazz Artist of the Year, Washington City Paper’s Artist & Composer of the Year. TEACHING: American University, Shenandoah University: Jazz Instructor; Duke Ellington School of the Arts: The Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. MarkGMeadows.com @MarkGMeadows

Press Reviews

Sublime

Metro Weekly

Zora Neale Hurston’s ‘Spunk’ gets revived with flair, and all of it has heart

The Washington Post

Compelling stories… a strong adaptation

BroadwayWorld

A sleek and stylized work that uses the spirit of the blues

Talkin' Broadway

Signature Theatre

4200 Campbell Ave Arlington, Virginia