An Octaroon

Woolly Mammoth Theatre

An Octoroon is Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Obie-winning riff on a 19th-century antebellum melodrama. At a plantation on the brink of foreclosure, a young man takes a fancy to the part-black daughter of the estate's owner, while an evil swindler schemes to buy the girl for himself, while the slaves try to keep things sane. Billed as "part period satire, part meta-theatrical middle finger," this incendiary adaptation by Jacobs-Jenkins, a recent MacArthur "Genius Grant"-winner, was lauded by the Washington Post for handling "hot-button topics with wit and wisdom.

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Written by Branden Jacobs Jenkins

Directed by Nataki Garrett