Pass Over is on its Way!

Lost Nation Theater opens its 2023 Season with an unforgettable theatrical experience: Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu's powerful play PASS OVER, April 13-30.

 

Do you dream of a promised land? Do you think you deserve a promised land? The extraordinary playwright & actor Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu explores this question in her “Blazingly Theatrical & Thrillingly Tense” (New York Times) play Pass Over.

 

Pass Over was the first show to reopen Broadway in 2021, and now it opens Lost Nation Theater’s 2023 Season, running Thursdays- Sundays, April 13–30 at the company’s wheelchair accessible home within Montpelier City Hall Arts Center – which is protected by our state-of-the-art Synexis Air Purification System.

 

“An artist’s duty…is to reflect the times”

and Antoinette Nwandu has manifested legendary musician Nina Simone’s wise words with Pass Over.

Imagine a theatrical mash-up of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, the Bible’s Exodus, & Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing and you are in the world of Pass Over - a startling play that examines the cyclical ravages of racial injustice and violence on two young black men.

 

In Pass Over, Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s "powerful and provocative" (The Guardian) play, Moses and Kitch talk smack, pass the time, and hope that maybe today will be different.

As they dream of their promised land, they’re interrupted by an aggressive policeman and a stranger who disrupt their plans. Evoking heartbreak, hope, and joy, 

Pass Over crafts everyday profanities into poetic and humorous riffs, illuminating the unquestionable human spirit of young men looking for a way out.

 

Lost Nation Theater is bringing artists from across the country together for this project.

Captaining the ship is award-winning director Taneisha Duggan.

Taneisha is an artist, activist, & educator, who has directed at Juilliard, Hartt, and is the former artistic producer of TheaterWorks.

“One of the questions the play asks is ‘What Does It Really Mean to Be Free?’
I have to agree with Nina Simone: ‘No Fear, that’s freedom’.” – Taneisha Duggan

 

Bringing Moses and Kitch to life on the LNT stage are Brandon Burditt and DIJI. They are joining LNT for the first time. Brandon –playing Moses - has his MFA in Acting and has performed across the country including Alliance Theatre, American Stage, and Illinois Shakespeare Festival.

DIJI, playing Kitch, an actor, writer & director from DC, offers:

“My love for storytelling drives my hunger to create work that heals and incites change. This piece personifies the fear and hope a black man can bear trying to survive America. I am both excited and afraid to expose the burden of feeling trapped by white supremacy.”

 

Rounding out the cast in the dual role of Ossifer and Mister, Orlando Grant returns “home” to Lost Nation Theater and Vermont, after embarking on his professional career and earning he BFA in Acting at Fordham University.

 

Founding Artistic Director Kim Bent is handling the scenic design:

“The question I’m asking myself is, ‘How can an urban street corner most effectively evoke Anywhere USA?
My hope is that we make our space recognizable to our audience, not one they see as some other place.”

 

Pass Over features LNT veterans in the design department: costumes are by Cora Fauser, Samuel J Biondolillo designs the lighting, and William Pelton serves as stage manager and props designer. New Vermonter Marc Gwinn handles the sound.

 

“There are crucial moments of intentional joy, of choosing to be hopeful as a means of survival. The radical nature of that act, of that choice, is a form of resistance—of continuing to promote and honor your own humanity… Moses & Kitch’s promised land is in each other, in their friendship and love for one another, and the joy they find there.”

-        Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu

 

Antoinette Nwandu has created a snapshot of a particular moment in our history. It's up to us to decide what's in the next frame. 

 

Join Us! April 13–30.  7:30pm Thursdays–Saturdays;  2:00pm Sundays.

Note: the play employs liberal use of profanities and the n-word as key to its linguistical landscape. Gun shots are also present.  Masks are preferred & strongly recommended, but not required.  

For general info on the show click here

Tickets are $10 – $35 (depending on ticket-type. Guaranteed reserved seating available for additional fee.)

Available On-Line; by Phone (Tu-Fri, 11am-3pm) or In Person at Montpelier City Clerks Office (M-F, 8:30am-4pm).  (Get advance tickets by cash or check at City Clerk's Office to avoid credit card feel)
phone: 802-229-0492.   email: info@lostnationtheater.org