“It was the Lord who knew of the impossibility every parent in that room faced: how to prepare the child for the day when the child would be despised and how to create in the child—by what means?—a stronger antidote to this poison than one had found for oneself. (...) Perhaps poison should be fought with poison.” —James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son
We all have superpowers. But we all also have corresponding weaknesses—aspects of ourselves that sometimes hinder our ability to recognize our capabilities. There’s much to be said about the strength of the Black community in this country. Strength that has only increased over four centuries when now-forgotten warriors endured a traumatic initiation in the holds of ships. This endurance has kept our story a story of superheroes, not tragic figures. We endure through our language, our art, our music, our food, and through our heroes historical and fictional: our Crispus Attuckses, our Harriet Jacobses, our Mamie Tills, our Malcolms, our Martins, our Angela Davises, our Nina Simones, our Lorraine Hansberrys, our August Wilsons, our Luke Cages, our Storms, our T’challas. We know these names because of the power in their voices to scream out the resilience of Black souls. A resilience that assures us and the world that if we fall down, we get back up again. Even as we watch our brothers and sisters shot down. For every Black child, there’s an epiphany. A moment when they realize they must work twice as hard to earn half as much. They learn they must behave a certain way in public
because no matter what, someone is always waiting to label them as “angry,” “hostile,” or “violent.” After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, of course, there was rage and a desire in people to go out and tear down the entire system. Some may have thought no one person could change the word. However, Floyd’s daughter Ginna, only six years old then, said proudly, “Daddy changed the world.” But as a consequence, she was a fatherless child. Despite what others may believe, grief does not define this community. Floyd’s death was the epitome of a 21stcentury lynching. But Ginna’s smile in the most horrendous circumstance is the biggest weapon against racial injustice. Black joy is magic, and this magic is real. Real as any of the stories in the media about the injustice and violence our community faces daily.
HELLYOUTALMBOUT
So, yes, our play is about superheroes. It is also a call to action. And through that call, we also hope there is some celebration here. And the next time someone questions whether being Black is a superpower, ask them, “HELLYOUTALMBOUT?” —Austin Riffelmacher, Production Dramaturg
LANGSTON HUGHES FESTIVAL OF NEW WORK | 2023–24 SEASON
NOVEMBER 7–11, 2023
Production
DAVID GEFFEN SCHOOL OF DRAMA AT YALE
Associate Safety Advisor
Steph Burke
James Bundy, Elizabeth Parker Ware Dean Florie Seery, Associate Dean Chantal Rodriguez, Associate Dean Carla L. Jackson, Assistant Dean Anne Erbe and Marcus Gardley, Co-Chairs, Playwriting
Associate Production Manager
Katie Chance
Technical Supervisor
Mara Bredovskis
Properties Manager
PRESENTS
Lilliana Gonzalez
HELLYOUTALMBOUT
Charlie Lovejoy
By ML Roberts
Emily Breeze KT Farmer
Production Stage Manager Run Crew
Directed by Kemar Jewel
Administration Associate Managing Director
Creative Team Production Dramaturg
Austin Riffelmacher Stage Manager
Adam Taylor Foster Assistant Stage Manager
Ty Ruwe
A.J. Roy
Cast
in alphabetical order Yummy
Jorge Banuelos Ensemble
Malachi dré Beasley Janelle
Cindy De La Cruz Gemini
Janiah-Camile François
Assistant Managing Director
Ramona Li
Elijah
Karl Green Roland
LAW
Management Assistants
Claudia Campos Victoria McNaughton Sarah Saifi House Manager
Nina/Drunk Woman/Della
Maura Bozeman
Whitey McWhiteface
Maza Rey
Nat Lopez
Amelia Windom
Setting: Present Day/Da two thousand twenties. US of A. HELLYOUTALMBOUT is performed without an intermission.
Content Guidance: This production contains racial violence, blood, discussions of death, gunshots and other loud noises.
This production is supported by The Benjamin Mordecai III Production Fund.
Production Photographer
David Geffen School of Drama productions are supported by the work of more than 200 faculty and staff members throughout the year.
Special Thanks Pyle
Yale acknowledges that indigenous peoples and nations, including Mohegan, Mashantucket Pequot, Eastern Pequot, Schaghticoke, Golden Hill Paugussett, Niantic, and the Quinnipiac and other Algonquian speaking peoples, have stewarded through generations the lands and waterways of what is now the state of Connecticut. We honor and respect the enduring relationship that exists between these peoples and nations and this land. We also acknowledge the legacy of slavery in our region and the enslaved African people whose labor was exploited for generations to help establish the business of Yale University as well as the economy of Connecticut and the United States. The Langston Hughes Festival of New Work productions are designed to be learning experiences that complement classroom work, providing a medium for students at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale to combine their individual talents and energies toward the staging of collaboratively created works. Your attendance meaningfully completes this process. THE BENJAMIN MORDECAI III PRODUCTION FUND, established by a graduate of the School, honors the memory of the Tony Award-winning producer who served as Managing Director of Yale Repertory Theatre, 1982–1993, and as Associate Dean and Chair of the Theater Management Program from 1993 until his death in 2005.
The taking of photographs or the use of recording devices of any kind in the theater without the written permission of the management is prohibited.
NOVEMBER 7–11, 2023
Production
DAVID GEFFEN SCHOOL OF DRAMA AT YALE
Associate Safety Advisor
Steph Burke
James Bundy, Elizabeth Parker Ware Dean Florie Seery, Associate Dean Chantal Rodriguez, Associate Dean Carla L. Jackson, Assistant Dean Anne Erbe and Marcus Gardley, Co-Chairs, Playwriting
Associate Production Manager
Katie Chance
Technical Supervisor
Mara Bredovskis
Properties Manager
PRESENTS
Lilliana Gonzalez
HELLYOUTALMBOUT
Charlie Lovejoy
By ML Roberts
Emily Breeze KT Farmer
Production Stage Manager Run Crew
Directed by Kemar Jewel
Administration Associate Managing Director
Creative Team Production Dramaturg
Austin Riffelmacher Stage Manager
Adam Taylor Foster Assistant Stage Manager
Ty Ruwe
A.J. Roy
Cast
in alphabetical order Yummy
Jorge Banuelos Ensemble
Malachi dré Beasley Janelle
Cindy De La Cruz Gemini
Janiah-Camile François
Assistant Managing Director
Ramona Li
Elijah
Karl Green Roland
LAW
Management Assistants
Claudia Campos Victoria McNaughton Sarah Saifi House Manager
Nina/Drunk Woman/Della
Maura Bozeman
Whitey McWhiteface
Maza Rey
Nat Lopez
Amelia Windom
Setting: Present Day/Da two thousand twenties. US of A. HELLYOUTALMBOUT is performed without an intermission.
Content Guidance: This production contains racial violence, blood, discussions of death, gunshots and other loud noises.
This production is supported by The Benjamin Mordecai III Production Fund.
Production Photographer
David Geffen School of Drama productions are supported by the work of more than 200 faculty and staff members throughout the year.
Special Thanks Pyle
Yale acknowledges that indigenous peoples and nations, including Mohegan, Mashantucket Pequot, Eastern Pequot, Schaghticoke, Golden Hill Paugussett, Niantic, and the Quinnipiac and other Algonquian speaking peoples, have stewarded through generations the lands and waterways of what is now the state of Connecticut. We honor and respect the enduring relationship that exists between these peoples and nations and this land. We also acknowledge the legacy of slavery in our region and the enslaved African people whose labor was exploited for generations to help establish the business of Yale University as well as the economy of Connecticut and the United States. The Langston Hughes Festival of New Work productions are designed to be learning experiences that complement classroom work, providing a medium for students at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale to combine their individual talents and energies toward the staging of collaboratively created works. Your attendance meaningfully completes this process. THE BENJAMIN MORDECAI III PRODUCTION FUND, established by a graduate of the School, honors the memory of the Tony Award-winning producer who served as Managing Director of Yale Repertory Theatre, 1982–1993, and as Associate Dean and Chair of the Theater Management Program from 1993 until his death in 2005.
The taking of photographs or the use of recording devices of any kind in the theater without the written permission of the management is prohibited.
“It was the Lord who knew of the impossibility every parent in that room faced: how to prepare the child for the day when the child would be despised and how to create in the child—by what means?—a stronger antidote to this poison than one had found for oneself. (...) Perhaps poison should be fought with poison.” —James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son
We all have superpowers. But we all also have corresponding weaknesses—aspects of ourselves that sometimes hinder our ability to recognize our capabilities. There’s much to be said about the strength of the Black community in this country. Strength that has only increased over four centuries when now-forgotten warriors endured a traumatic initiation in the holds of ships. This endurance has kept our story a story of superheroes, not tragic figures. We endure through our language, our art, our music, our food, and through our heroes historical and fictional: our Crispus Attuckses, our Harriet Jacobses, our Mamie Tills, our Malcolms, our Martins, our Angela Davises, our Nina Simones, our Lorraine Hansberrys, our August Wilsons, our Luke Cages, our Storms, our T’challas. We know these names because of the power in their voices to scream out the resilience of Black souls. A resilience that assures us and the world that if we fall down, we get back up again. Even as we watch our brothers and sisters shot down. For every Black child, there’s an epiphany. A moment when they realize they must work twice as hard to earn half as much. They learn they must behave a certain way in public
because no matter what, someone is always waiting to label them as “angry,” “hostile,” or “violent.” After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, of course, there was rage and a desire in people to go out and tear down the entire system. Some may have thought no one person could change the word. However, Floyd’s daughter Ginna, only six years old then, said proudly, “Daddy changed the world.” But as a consequence, she was a fatherless child. Despite what others may believe, grief does not define this community. Floyd’s death was the epitome of a 21stcentury lynching. But Ginna’s smile in the most horrendous circumstance is the biggest weapon against racial injustice. Black joy is magic, and this magic is real. Real as any of the stories in the media about the injustice and violence our community faces daily.
HELLYOUTALMBOUT
So, yes, our play is about superheroes. It is also a call to action. And through that call, we also hope there is some celebration here. And the next time someone questions whether being Black is a superpower, ask them, “HELLYOUTALMBOUT?” —Austin Riffelmacher, Production Dramaturg
LANGSTON HUGHES FESTIVAL OF NEW WORK | 2023–24 SEASON