Go Ye Therefore - Director

Sunday is the most segregated day in America.

Go Ye Therefore… (GYT), produced by ArtSpot Productions, is an ensemble generated multi-disciplinary performance by two southern women, one black and one white, both daughters and granddaughters of Baptist preachers. New Orleans native Kathy Randels and first generation Zimbabwean-American Rebecca Mwase trouble the waters of their Baptist upbringings in search of their own spiritual truth. GYT revels in the unifying joy of song as it explores Women of the Bible, Baptist history, and the tenuous relationship between the Missionary and the Native, in Zimbabwe and in post-Katrina New Orleans.

This was an extended devising process over 10 months. I lead the team through a series of composition exercises to develop material for the show. This was an intimate collaborative process including extensive leadership by choreographer Monique Moss and sculptor Jeff Becker. Kathy and Rebecca spent significant time mining their personal histories as preacher’s kids, devising new ways to tell stories from the Bible, and having difficult conversations about the ways that racism is present in Southern Baptist doctrine. Jeff, Monique, and I collaborated to design and structure a show specifically for our New Orleans venue – a raised house in a New Orleans neighborhood devastated by Katrina. We visited churches and held community sings in several neighborhoods throughout the city while in development. We spent several months rehearsing and creating in response to the home of Kevin and Tiffany Eyer. When producing the show in Atlanta we kept the same dramaturgical structure and adapted our scenic elements to the home of Whit and Barbara Connah. The piece has also been adapted to a 50 minute version that performed at the Civic Theater in New Orleans and Camp Mokuleia in Hawaii.

Direction by Ashley Sparks
Devised and performed by Kathy Randels and Rebecca Mwase
Set design by Jeff Becker
Music by Emanuel Burke
Costumes by Laura Sirkin-Brown
Choreography by Monique Moss
Lighting design by Hannah Adams.
Scriptwork by Lisa Shattuck
Stage managed by Rebecca McLaughlin

"Anyone who has ever questioned her religious upbringing will find something to appreciate in Go Ye Therefore …,"
- The Times Picayune