WAM Presents: hollow roots
by Christina Anderson
July 16, 2023
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Performed with live musical accompaniment, this dynamic and poetic solo play questions the notion of a “post-racial” society by looking at one woman’s quest to understand her identity. The protagonist challenges herself to find a person of color who has a “neutral” identity.
“I started writing hollow roots when Barack Obama had just been elected President, and I kept reading and hearing white folks say his victory marked the beginning of a “post-race” society. I didn’t know any people of color who felt that way. But I wondered… what would it look like if a Black woman became “raceless” right before our eyes? Can she transform into a “neutral” being from the inside out?” --Christina Anderson, playwright
"Christina Anderson's plays grab me by the throat, wounds my memory, and changes the way I walk through the world. She is, without a doubt, one of our most significant and prescient writers." --Paula Vogel, Pulitzer Prize-winner, How I Learned to Drive
“One-person storytelling invites a level of intimacy that excites me. It invites not only a witnessing of the vulnerability of the character/performer on stage but I believe, invites us as viewers into a deeper vulnerability with ourselves. We only have their experience and our own to be with. I love that! After years of consulting-based partnership, I'm honored to now have the opportunity to collaborate creatively with WAM and artists to present hollow roots.” --Trenda Loftin, director
The Mount's general COVID-19 Health and Safety Guidelines may be found here.
The Mount is a Massachusetts Cultural Council UP designated organization welcoming participants of all disabilities. Please contact The Mount at 413-551-5100 or by email, info@edithwharton.org, to discuss accommodations needed to participate fully in this event.
- Purchase tickets through WAM Theatre's box office.
- This event is in The Mount's Stable auditorium.
Christina Anderson (she/her) is a 2022 Tony Award Nominee for Outstanding Book of the Broadway musical Paradise Square. She is a playwright, tv writer, screenwriter, educator, and creative. WAM Theatre: playwright, hollow roots. Selected Credits Elsewhere: Her work was by theaters such as the Goodman Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Kansas City Rep, Geva Theatre, and Yale Rep. Awards and honors include: the 2022 Horton Foote Prize, 2022 Arthur Miller Legacy Award, 2021 Prince Prize, 2020 United States Artists Fellow, MacDowell Fellowship, Lily Awards Harper Lee Prize, Herb Alpert Award nomination, Barrymore Nomination, and New Dramatists Residency. TV/Film: She was a staff writer on Edie Falco’s CBS tv drama Tommy. Teaching: She taught playwriting at the David Geffen School of Drama, Wesleyan University, Rutgers University, and SUNY Purchase College and was the interim Head of Playwriting at Brown University. Additional Creative Work: An avid photographer for nearly ten years, the Magnum award review described Christina’s work as “compelling” and “poignant.” Since 2019, she has produced hip-hop instrumentals under the moniker Purely Magenta.
Trenda Loftin (she/her) is a body-centered and collaborative playwright, director, actor, and consultant. Committed to using theatre to raise awareness, question patterns, inspire action, and build community, Trenda integrates artistic expression with nuanced identity exploration. WAM Theatre: Trenda is WAM’s BIPOC Staff Advocate and director for Hollow Roots. Previous WAM Theatre: Teaching Artist and steward for the POC Ensemble and performer in Campus Unrest. Selected Credits Elsewhere: Voices Carry (Playwright and facilitator), Gasping Whiteness (co-director, actor), Independent: The Heroin Project (actor), Breastless (actor), Far Reaches (actor) When Last We Flew (director) and the film “Gale and the Fish” (actor). Playwriting: Franklin County Jail, Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center and Voices From Inside hosted her play When the System Swallows You and its accompanying workshop. Affiliations and Awards: Trenda is the Co-Chair of the GLSEN MA Board of Directors and has served as chair of the Western Massachusetts Fall Youth Conference (2017-2019). Her recent endeavors include becoming a worker-owner of The Compost Cooperative, Inc., a Massachusetts licensed REALTOR®️ with Coldwell Banker Community Realtors, and Founder of Willow Permanent Real Estate Cooperative, LLC. Trenda is excited to integrate her theatre experience with racial, social, and housing justice efforts.