cullud wattah
by Erika Dickerson-Despenza

Name: cullud wattah
Brand: Erika Dickerson-Despenza
SKU: 9780573709807
Rating: 5 (6 reviews)

cullud wattah Book Cover — cullud wattah Cover

Highlights

Female

120 mins Present Day Role(s) for Black Actor(s) Interior Set Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes

Synopsis

It’s been 936 days since Flint has had clean water.

Marion, a third generation General Motors employee, is consumed by layoffs at the engine plant.

When her sister, Ainee, seeks justice and restitution for lead poisoning, her plan reveals the toxic entanglements between the city and its most powerful industry, forcing their family to confront the past-present-future cost of survival.

As lead seeps into their home and their bodies, corrosive memories and secrets rise among them.

Will this family ever be able to filter out the truth?

cullud wattah blends form and bends time, diving deep into the poisonous choices of the outside world, the contamination within, and how we make the best choices for our families’ future when there are no real, present options.

Press Reviews

"Dickerson-Despenza deserves gratitude for framing such a national issue as an intimately human, and therefore extremely relatable, protest."
— New York Stage Review

"At this neo-Greek tragedy about an American travesty, gasps and tears complete the experience."
— Time Out New York

"Dickerson-Despenza is as gifted a storyteller as Kramer and Shange, and also a more conventional one. To drop yet another famous name into this review, cullud wattah is every bit as drum-tight in its plot as Arthur Miller’s All My Sons."
— The Wrap

Characters

Character	Gender	Age	Description
Marion 34, cinnamon-colored African American woman; a robust and weary third-generation engine assembly line worker; Plum and Reesee’s mama	female	—	34, cinnamon-colored African American woman; a robust and weary third-generation engine assembly line worker; Plum and Reesee’s mama
Reesee 17, saucy, honey-colored African American young woman infatuated with Yemoja; a dancer and aspiring doula (Note: raw honey and pasteurized honey assortments vary in hue.)	female	—	17, saucy, honey-colored African American young woman infatuated with Yemoja; a dancer and aspiring doula (Note: raw honey and pasteurized honey assortments vary in hue.)
Big Ma 63, thin, high-yellow African American woman; the stern and churchy matriarch of the Cooper family who’s sweet in the middle	female	—	63, thin, high-yellow African American woman; the stern and churchy matriarch of the Cooper family who’s sweet in the middle
Ainee 37, 34 weeks pregnant, African American woman the color of pulled taffy; Marion’s defiant older sisterAll characters can hold a note. Here, music comes as easily as breathing.	female	—	37, 34 weeks pregnant, African American woman the color of pulled taffy; Marion’s defiant older sisterAll characters can hold a note. Here, music comes as easily as breathing.
Plum 9, frail but arithmetically sharp African American girl; she is blue-black like a plum	female	—	9, frail but arithmetically sharp African American girl; she is blue-black like a plum