What happens when Black love collides with white lust for excitement at the turn of the 20th century in the old south? The prospects of sexual liaisons are fraught with danger. Luda Mae and her beloved Samson, a “colored” couple in Alabama in 1908, are planning to marry, open their own shop where they can ply their trades, farm their land, and raise a large and loving family. But disaster strikes, in the form of Miss Gracie Lewis, daughter of the town’s most prominent white family, ending Luda Mae and Samson’s future, causing Luda Mae to retreat into a world of work, and few expectations. Until, one fateful day forty years later, when Luda Mae is called to revisit the tragedy of her love cruelly lost, she sees the chance for a reckoning. Will the Jim Crow status quo prevail?
Or will she answer her age-old cries for justice? (Reading run time: 1 hour 35 min.)

PLEASE NOTE : This reading contains strong language and themes.

As part of Ensemble’s mission, our Stagewrights Unit fosters the development of new works for the stage.
Staged readings offer playwrights the platform to have their work presented to an audience with local artists.
We encourage audiences to participate in survey questions provided by the playwright as well as a post show talkback with them following the reading. Audiences are fundamental to our work!

There will be a post show talkback after the reading @ 4:45
Please email plays@ensemble-theatre.org if you would like to attend the talkback.

:: Meet the Artists ::

Jeanne Madison (Playwright) is an award-winning actress, and playwright. The recipient of the 2018  Cleveland Scene Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Comedy for “Sassy Mamas” 2018 & 2020 at Karamu House, Jeanne has been widely recognized for leading roles in the PBS IdeaStream  Drama “Greenwood, an American Dream Destroyed”; “The Velocity of Autumn” at Karamu  House, “Picnic” at Oberlin Theater Festival; “The Oldest Profession” at convergence continuum,  “Talking With” at Weathervane Playhouse, “Left In Ink” at Cleveland Public Theater, and the  award-winning 2017, & 2018 Cleveland Shakespeare Festival productions of “Taming of the  Shrew”, “Macbeth”, “Henry V”, and “Much Ado About Nothing”. She has also been in  numerous commercials and films, including the Netflix film “Wheat Germ” release date 2022. Jeanne holds a BA and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University, and recently completed  Scene Study and Playwrighting Master Classes at The Cleveland Playhouse. Her plays have been  featured in Cleveland Public Theater’s Dark Room, and Ensemble Theatre’s Stagewrights where  she is a member. After many years in the corporate, and non-profit sectors, during which she lived in Chicago,  New York City, and Washington DC, Jeanne returned to Cleveland, Ohio where she finds  inspiration for her acting and writing. Jeanne is grateful to Ensemble Theatre for producing this staged reading of her play, “Eyes of  the Bridge”, and she is thrilled with the work of the stellar cast, Director, and creative team.

Ashley Aquilla (Luda Mae) originally from St Louis, Mo was introduced to performing arts in 2010. Ashley was seen in Playwrights Local, Objectively/Reasonably: a community response to the shooting of Tamir Rice 11/22/14, Ohio City Theatre Project's Incendiaries, Barbecue at Cleveland Public Theater, and Cornell Calhoun's Court Square, Talladega Alabama at Cleveland City Hall. Aquilla has directed several pieces including Purses at Karamu House, My Body is Blue at Convergence Continuum, At Last at Ensemble Theater, and School Girls at Firestone High School. She is also a teaching artist for the Cleveland Play House. Ashley strongly believes in the efficacy of using entertainment as a catalyst for social awareness and change.

Treva Offutt (Angeline) is a visual and performing artist, educator, and arts administrator. She has had the honor of performing with NYC’s The Urban Bush Women, Belgium’s Remote Control Productions, Mexico’s Choro Tajin, Ireland’s Daghda Dance Company, and India’s Adishakti Theatre Company. Locally, she has enjoyed performing with Karamu House, Dobama, Mamai, The Musical Theatre Project, The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, and Ensemble Theatre. She was a Drama and Dance teacher at Laurel School for 12 years and is in her 13th year directing plays for Heights Youth Theatre. Treva is a proud graduate of RISD, a member of SAG, and the new Director of Education for Playhouse Square.

Nnamdi Okpala (Samson) is overjoyed to work with such talented people and make his return to Ensemble working on a new play! He was last seen as George Murchison in Ensemble’s critically acclaimed production of A Raisin in the Sun. Nnamdi recently received his B.A. in Theatre Arts at Cleveland State University, where he played Paris in Romeo and Juliet and the Narrator in She Kills Monsters. He worked on the CWRU/CPH digital production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and is currently a teaching artist for CPH. He is grateful for his family, educators and everyone involved in making theatre possible. IG @whynnamdi.“

Maya Jones (Young Luda Mae) is an actor, writer, activist hailing from the Cleveland area. She is excited to work with Ensemble again where she was last seen in Well and The Penelopiad. She has also worked locally with Dobama (An Octoroon), Karamu (For Colored Girls…, Aida, Dreamgirls, Gods Trombones), and Cleveland Public Theatre (Control Her, How Blood Go, Red Ash Mosaic). Her time as an actor since graduating Allegheny College has been a tidlewave of learning and growing. She is currently in Bloomington getting her MFA in Acting at Indiana University. Thanks for supporting the theatre.

DeLee Cooper (Cora Lynne) is a native of Zanesville, Ohio. She is honored to be a part of this reading and to work with Ensemble Theatre for the first time. She moved to the Cleveland area shortly after graduating from Wright State University with a BFA in Acting to be an Actor Teacher with Great Lakes Theater, which she did for three years. She has also performed with many local companies, including Beck Center for the Arts, Blank Canvas Theatre, Cain Park, Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, Dobama Theatre, French Creek Theatre, Ohio Shakespeare Festival, Pointillism Jazz Consort, and Talespinner Children's Theatre.

Khaki Hermann (Gracie Lewis) is an actor, teaching artist, and native Clevelander. She earned her BFA from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, while studying for four years at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. She recently earned her M.Ed. in Adolescent Educational Pedagogy from John Carroll University. Khaki has worked with Talespinner Children's Theater, Great Lakes Theater, Mamai Theatre Company, and Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, in addition to being the new Executive Director of local arts education non-profit Kulture Kids. Many thanks to Jeanne, Becca, and Celeste!