Lillian Brown to present one-woman play performance Friday

Lillian Brown, visiting professor of theatre, will present a solo performance of her original play “The OREO Complex” Friday, July 8. The performance will begin at 7 p.m. at The Heist, 114 Watson St. Brown is using the performance as a preview/workshop before she takes the show on the road.

“The OREO Complex” is an exploration of internalized segregation, a celebration of resilience, a practice of rigorous patience, honesty and veneration of ancestors from the African and black diaspora. It chronicles the experience of OREO Girl, a black female, navigating predominately white institutions. For her, it is a voyage to embody an unapologetic performance of blackness despite the obstructions that erupt from a lineage of assimilation and perfectly polished respectability. Most importantly, it is a revolution to be seen and heard authentically as human.

“I wrote it shortly after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor when I was hiding in my apartment amidst chaos invading the streets,” Brown says. “There was a lot of virtue signaling by my ‘friends’ online. Something I like to call fast-food activism. I felt invalidated. Why did my ‘friends’ choose to invest themselves in the general and all-encompassing theme of #blacklivesmatter when I was standing right beside them all along? Must I be asphyxiated for 9 min 29 seconds before people realize my life is worth protecting too?”

After the performance, there will be a discussion about Brown’s process devising the work. Complimentary refreshments will be provided.

Tickets are available for $10 here.

Brown will be performing her show at the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, D.C., and the St. Louis Fringe Festival in Missouri this summer.

Posted July 7, 2022 in Faculty, Fine Arts.