By Penumbra Theater Company

A free performance of Purple Flower took place on July 1, 2011 at Penumbra Theater Company.  The play is part of a developmental workshop from Penumbra’s New Play Development Program—OKRA. Playwright Keli Garrett has re-envisioned a 1928 play by African American playwright Marita Bonner, entitled The Purple Flower.  The visual artist collaborator was puppeteer Janaki Ranpura.

Penumbra’s Associate Artistic Director Dominic Taylor directs the OKRA program and said of Purple Flower: “The examination of Marita Bonner’s play Purple Flower re-imagined by playwright Keli Garrett was an extremely useful week of experimentation.  This play originally conceived as an avant-garde play from the Harlem renaissance has been re-imagined by Ms. Garrett along with her collaborator Janaki Ranpura. With the use of five actors playing multiple roles and three puppeteers, the play was examined in depth. Ultimately we made two distinct showings on that Friday evening. One with the actors performing the text and another just with the puppets and music. The potential layers opened up to us in a way that we had not anticipated, and both of the lead artists had a blast working on the project.”

Penumbra’s new play development program, called OKRA, is a unique opportunity to develop the artistic voice of the African American community and create a system to get new plays produced.  OKRA means ‘spark of life’ to the Akan people of Ghana.  The program nurtures the voice of emerging playwrights while it honors the historical and cultural aesthetic from which that specific voice comes. The OKRA program has three components:  the expansion of early ideas, a reading series, and a week-long workshop, which culmiates in Penumbra’s Word(s)Play! Festival.  The ultimate goal of the program is moving new plays onto the main stage.