The Mushroom Kingdom of Ezili follows three communities: 1) a bucolic community of Mud People that finds their refuge in a kingdom of psychedelic, sentient, mushrooms; 2) Queen Milfie and her Mushroom Kingdom of Ezili - named after Haitian goddess of both pleasure and justice - who is not only countering the crisis of climate disaster but also the human overconsumption of psychedelic mushrooms; and 3) a local artist, George, who forages hallucinogenic mushrooms after being diagnosed with an internalized anti-Blackness that has ruined their storytelling ability.
MUSHROOM KINGDOM follows the journey of the two Mud People, lovers Sala and Rodrigue, who are both stolen from the Mushroom Kingdom and placed into George's imagination: an anti-Black world of Plot and their voyage back to their Black, Queer, Femme utopia beneath the mushroom caps.
Inspired by Steve Wonder's "Secret Life of Plants," magic realist novel "People of Paper" by Salvador Plascencia, Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach's "Triptych" and the ease of Caribbean music that I grew up with, I'd like to develop, along with the play itself, the sounds of a psychedelic mushroom, eco-womanist, pleasure-activated mycelium network - the sounds of rapture and return. I'd like to produce this piece at a campgrounds or in some sort of space that would allow folks to stay overnight for an immersive theatrical experience with somatic responses from shroom teas and play parties steeped in sound.
Directed by Charlene Jean
Devised with Chesray Dolpha, Thalia Sablon, Star Mitchell, Gabriel White
Cast: Maya Finoh, Raven Jeanette, Gabriel White, Michael Rashawn, Star Mitchell, Colin Pieters, Oskar Gantauh
Would love comments, feedback, and future development partnerships. Thanks for watching.
Big post coming soon - it will be called “MAKING ROOM.”
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