(gentle music) - [Jon] Every play is a child, and it takes a village to raise it.

- Welcome to the Promised Land!

- It takes a village to share it with the world.

(wind whooshing) - The sound of freedom!

- I'm really excited by how everybody's working at such a high level of passion for the project.

- What are we gonna do?

- This region reminded me why what we do is so important.

- We're gonna put a highway- - With the narratives and the conversations and the ways that we engage, they offer opportunities to make meaning for people who are also searching for that.

- Welcome to the Jubilee Festival of the future of us!

- We feel like the luckiest artists in the world to have been in this special community.

- Rise up, declare our inheritance!

♪ We survived, oh, yeah ♪ ♪ We survived, oh, yeah ♪ (gentle music) - [Announcer] Major support comes from the Goode Family Foundation.

(uplifting music) - Good afternoon, happy Thursday!

Happy Friday eve.

My name is Ari and I'm here with The Inheritance Project.

We are a national arts organization who go to different cities around the country to make plays based on the history of the place, the people who live there, and the inherited wisdom of the Book of Exodus.

Not just the biblical story, but the themes, ideas, and how we can see it as a lens through which we see this community.

- Art lowers the barrier of entry to relationship and relationship can lower the barrier of entry to community.

One way we do that is by hosting what we like to call salons.

- As we have these conversations, we'll start creating scripts, ideas, and bring them back to you to help us shape the story and build a narrative that is representative and reflective of you and your ideas.

It's really important that if you come to our salon, your voice is in the room.

It sounds so small, but just claiming your space, that's a beautiful way of showing up.

- We would love you to share one word or phrase that comes to mind when you hear Hampton Roads, Tidewater, 757, Seven Cities.

Can I have a volunteer who'd like to be brave and go first?

Great.

Wonderful.

- When I think of Hampton Roads, I think of diversity, inclusion, and equity.

- When I think of Hampton Roads, it's actually the opposite of you.

I think divide, I think schism.

Divide and schism.

Isis, thank you so much.

I think immediately, I think water.

- Water.

Thank you, Rachel.

- I'm gonna go today with many communities.

- [Jon] Many communities.

- Can you raise your hand if you live in Norfolk?

Okay.

Virginia Beach?

Portsmouth?

Yeah, I see y'all.

I see y'all.

Hampton?

Newport News?

Okay.

- [Jon] All right, we have a couple of people.

- Chesapeake?

- Chesapeake?

- When we first got invited to come to the area, it was just Norfolk, and then we were told that if you were gonna talk about Norfolk, you had to also talk about Virginia Beach, and you also had to talk about Suffolk and Chesapeake and Portsmouth.

And then it became that if you were gonna talk about the south side cities, you also had to talk about the peninsula.

So the project morphed into encompassing all Seven Cities that are included in the Hampton Roads area.

- [Ari] Just gonna ask everyone to listen to what you hear when Jon reads the words.

- Problematic, Virginia Beach, noise, water, traffic, military, home, flooding.

- So the more people we meet with, the more themes start to emerge from those conversations.

- Historic athletes, historic talent, historic communities.

- In those moments, we really start to see those stars that are burning brighter.

- Transparent, transient, haunted, historic, home.

- [Chantal] Whoo, great!

Thanks John.

(participants applaud) - In the fall of 2014, I got a phone call from the Covenant Foundation, which supports Jewish education, and they said, "Well, what is the work you want to do?"

And I said, "Most audiences only experience art when it's finished."

I was really curious to know how opening up the artistic process might impact a community and might impact the artists who are working on the process.

And the other thing I was interested in was inherited text, and the Covenant Foundation said, "Great, we'll give you some money and you can try it."

And ended up doing the first five plays of the Inheritance Project.

I'm gonna let you in on the process, because we are all in on the process.

We have been talking about an idea of personification of the Seven Cities.

Maybe they are seven siblings, maybe they are seven cousins, maybe they all share a house.

- It was just so clear how important family was as a underlying theme for the whole region.

That became the narrative of how we shaped the performance.

How do we understand these Seven Cities as seven siblings in a family?

This family has a teenager in it, a teenager who's kind of acting like a Greek chorus.

So from your perspective, if we could have a Promised Land, right, like in the Book of Exodus, what's one word or phrase that could mean that?

- A world where everyone is equal.

- [Ari] Where everyone is equal.

- [Actor] More common sense and patience.

- [Ari] More common sense and patience.

- Humanity and humility.

- Humanity and humility.

- [Actor] I think in the Promised Land, everyone needs a little bit of therapy.

- (laughs) Yes, access to therapy for everyone.

May 5th, 6th, and 7th, we'll be at the Attucks Theatre performing this, and you'll see some of the things that you contributed to it.

So I really, really hope to see you there and I'm so grateful.

- [Jon] Thank you so much.

- There is something about finding different approaches to accessing Exodus, both as a text, but also as an idea that gives us this incredible opportunity to learn from other people from all different backgrounds.

(gentle music) - Thank you, everybody, for being here.

We are beginning to think of a play that is exploring the identities and relationships between the Seven Cities as seven siblings, and that is relevant to the text that we're gonna be looking at today and ideas of inheritance and home in the Promised Land and the journey to get there.

Our dramaturgical scholar-in-residence, Dr. Rebecca Schorsch, came in and led a text study with interfaith clergy from around Hampton Roads and some members of our artistic team.

- One of the things that occurred to me was what it would look like to foreground the beginning of the Exodus story, but depending on who's at the table, the text changes, right?

That's just part of the exciting work of the Inheritance Project.

Rabbi Ellen, would you be willing to read that for us?

- "A certain member of the household of Levi bore a son.

When she could hide him no longer, she put the child among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

The daughter of Pharaoh sent her slave girl to call the child's mother, and Pharaoh's daughter said to her, 'Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will pay your wages.'

When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter who made him her son.

She named him Moses, explaining, 'I drew him out of the water.'"

- Our ancestors left us breadcrumbs to learn how to be human.

Inherited text can be wielded as a weapon, and it can be wielded as a tool for bringing communities together.

When I think of water, I think of femininity, and then I think about him being pulled from the water and that being his name.

And then I think about the splitting of the sea.

So Exodus comes in strong with "the sister gets it," and I wonder if that gets played out in other places.

- The scriptures, in terms of including stories about women, it's done by shards.

- I love that word choice, right?

Shards, fragments, and we have to pick 'em up and investigate.

- That was a really powerful experience, because it allowed us to see the ways in which the text already shows us a blueprint for the stories we're trying to explore, the morals we're trying to articulate, the values we're trying to understand, and the challenges that get in the way of all of that.

Invisible lines, hometown, slow-motion, territorial, hidden gems, cliquish waterways, layered lovers, complex, creative weather.

- [Both] Mm-hmm.

- I heard a lot of like, mm.

What resonated that you just heard?

- Invisible lines.

- Yeah.

- To me, it just described the 757 to a tee.

- Clique-ish waterways came to me, because there's Ocean View Beach and then Virginia Beach, and then you don't see certain people at either one of those beaches sometimes.

I'm a professor of theater at Old Dominion University and my focus is in race and performance, activist theater, and devised theater.

The Inheritance Project asked me to serve as an eye on the ground that understood this work of building something from scratch with a community at large.

- Just from our own perspective, we're performing at the Attucks Theatre, which is on the other side of an invisible line.

Transcending those invisible lines can sometimes be harder than transcending the visible ones.

- What does the future look like?

What is the Promised Land?

- One word I think of is lighter, because we won't have that burden, but I think about the conversations we had to have with our children?

(choking up) - Our dad, he always says, "If you speak to a man in the language that he knows, you talk to his mind.

But when you speak to a man in the language of his own language, you speak to his heart.

- These conversations give us hope.

- So there's lots and lots of good work that's coming out of here and I'm really grateful for all that you shared with us today.

So thank you.

- [All] Thank you.

(gentle music) - The Attucks is the oldest remaining theater in the country that was financed, designed, constructed, and operated by African Americans.

It was built by a group of businessmen from Norfolk and Portsmouth.

Those are the twin cities.

They wanted to construct a cultural center in this community where people could attend and feel like they were being treated with respect and dignity.

- The Attucks, it's just an inspiring old theater to be in.

There's so much history there.

- It was a movie house, a vaudeville house, and they would've midnight rambles.

- I was really inspired by how a patron would come and they would be able to see an entire evening of entertainment.

- Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Dizzy Gillespie, and Dinah Washington, all of the great artists of the day came through here.

- The space takes your breath away.

You can feel the spirits there.

You can feel the performers on that stage.

- We keep coming back to these seeds that were planted 100, 150, 200 years ago.

The seed planters didn't necessarily know how much it would pay off for their descendants, but it does.

- It does.

- Yeah.

- The Book of Exodus has three parts.

The Attucks had a three-part evening.

We were telling a three-part story.

It was meant to be.

(dramatic music) - Hi, everybody.

Thank you so much for all of our hard work this week.

This conversation's goal is to make sure that we're all leaving on the same page.

- We had to figure out how the conversation with a group of teenagers, speaks to the conversation with a group of clergy, speaks to the conversation with a group of artists.

And how do we start shaping lines versus themes, scenes in the play, that reflect the different ideas that we're having.

- I wonder if anything has come up that has either strengthened things that we thought or provided direct contrast with and/or other bubbly thoughts that people want to share.

- I keep looking at potential for cooperation, but it doesn't exist and I feel like there's no unity.

- Things have been divisive about the Hampton Roads area, the Seven Cities, and we end up competing against each other.

- I heard a young person say something optimistic and then somebody next to me said, "Not in my lifetime."

- [All] Yes!

- That's the dysfunction of our community.

We can't agree on anything, and because of that, everybody suffers.

- Portsmouth and Norfolk were twin cities, but then Virginia Beach kind of replaces Portsmouth as Norfolk's twin, and then Suffolk and Chesapeake, they're kinda, you know, quieter, whatever.

I don't know what's going on, but Newport News and Hampton are like the cousins or the kids from the first marriage.

- Once we realized the ambiguity of the regionality of this place, it became a driving narrative of the story we were exploring, the stories we were hearing, and the story we needed to tell.

- What you're talking about, this walking back and forth, I'm thinking about an ebb and flow.

- And it's choreography too.

I'm coming here, I'm gonna go around this and then I'm gonna keep going.

- It's more like do your path.

You're going back and forth, and then this is inserted in and what are you gonna do?

Do you go around it or does your path get short?

- Or forget it getting in your way.

We live right here, right, and then we're gonna put a highway, you know what I mean?

And then shards of plastic will fly in everybody's face.

I'm really sorry.

I thought the cup would be a little more stable.

- Maybe that's a metaphor.

I thought the cup was more stable.

- More stable, ooh.

- Is everybody okay?

Seriously?

Is everybody okay?

Our job as artists is to take those issues and to elevate them into something that is not only authentic and recognizable, but also beautiful, aspirational, and sacred.

(no audio) (gentle music) - Hi, everybody.

It's so nice to be back in town.

We're gonna hear some scenes that explore family dynamics.

- After going out and doing the salons, the script was then devised or created with our team.

- Alpha and Bravo are setting the table.

The others are in the kitchen.

- Can't believe you made it and on time.

- Seriously?

- What?

Always working.

Always busy.

Working hard or hardly working, am I right?

All right.

What's wrong?

- This past weekend was huge for me.

My art gallery opened and- - Oh, that's right.

Yeah.

- No one showed up, including Mom.

Great, great, great, great, great.

- Core to our style of devised theater is receiving information, starting to shape it, and then sharing it back with the community and saying, "Is this what you were talking about?"

- Anybody have thoughts?

- I come from a large family and this past May, my mother, the matriarch died.

- [Jon] Sorry to hear that.

- What I was seeing and wondering about was how much is her influence pulling you two together where you might not otherwise spend time with each other?

- That's the question.

- Yeah.

- Why are we trying so hard to give this region a name and a regional identity if the Seven Cities just wanna be seven independent cities?

- What is the dynamic with the siblings in general?

- We empower the actors to make some of those decisions as they create their characters.

- Thank you.

That was super helpful.

Jon's gonna rewrite everything.

We're gonna re-act it.

It's all gonna be great, and you're all gonna see that on May 5th, 6th, and 7th at the Attucks Theater, okay?

- What really happens is the process gets pushed into overdrive when we start to figure out what's the story we're telling and who do we want in the room to help us tell it.

(gentle music) - Hi, everybody.

Welcome and thank you so much for coming.

We're making a drama about seven siblings that represent the Seven Cities and how the family dynamics play out in Hampton Roads.

- It was very important that we used local artists to speak to the reality and the groundedness of this piece.

- We're using the NATO alphabet instead of the names of the cities.

- It was nice to be in a room and see a lot of familiar faces as well as meet some new people that I'd be working with.

- It felt surreal that the project was like finally kicking off.

I think I was still in shock that I was in the show.

(laughs) - This is a family gathering of some kind to deal with a will or the mother's health or climate change or flooding in the house.

We'll all figure that all out together.

- It was a little intimidating to do a first read-through and with so many people in the room, but having Isis there who I knew, seeing Moriah there, seeing Jon A. there, it was comforting.

- It was very obvious that most of the people knew each other, but it didn't take very long for me to feel like a part of the family.

- Usually when you get cast in a show, they let you know beforehand, "Hey, you're gonna come in as this character," but with this, everything was new.

You're gonna read our teen chorus, India.

- Great.

Welcome to the Promised Land.

I've always thought of this house as a sacred space, a place of worship.

- Everybody was really feeding off that energy and that excitement.

- I didn't realize the depth and intensity that this product was.

- My bees are coming back to the hive.

- No matter what you say, the tide is coming.

- [Actor] Not here, it's not.

- I don't think you can keep it out.

- You know what the tide brings in, don't you?

Trash.

It brings trash.

- Doorbell rings.

- That thing still works?

Does anyone even come through the front door?

- Obviously this is your home just as much as anyone.

He's just being a jerk.

- Finally hearing the voices of these characters, all of a sudden the family started taking shape.

- I don't yet know if I'm going to outlive the Promised Land or not.

This house has its tribulations.

- Mama, this is silly.

If you need to move out of this house, I'll buy you a place near me.

We'll just sell all this crap and split it evenly among the five of us.

- Seven, idiot.

- It's the Promised Land.

Promising to float away when the big one comes.

- Weather's always changing.

There's nothing to worry about.

- I see, there's no climate change in the suburbs.

- The script, from the very beginning, showed there's dysfunction, but then everyone at the same time is trying to figure out where do we go from here?

- Welcome, everyone, to the Attucks Weekly Friday Night Talent Show!

It's a fantastical extravaganza of human talent and amazement.

- I just love that it didn't feel like anyone was competing or trying to be the best - Act three.

Tabernacle.

We are at a water worship service in the future and how the decisions they made affected the generations after them.

But in our future, we end on a note of hope.

- Yay.

(actors cheer) - That was so good, you guys.

Thank you so much.

(waves crashing gently) - Everybody focuses on what's happening on the stage, but there's so much behind that you have to do starting months, months, months before you even get to put people in the room.

(placid music) So we know that there's going to be some sort of a storm and we know that the water is playing a big role in the play.

It's almost like a second character.

I'm gonna do wind, and considering this play and where we are, recording the waves at the first African landing spot is probably our best bet.

- This would've been the first sounds that were heard by those folks who landed in 1619.

- It was important for anytime that there was the sound of waves, that it be the waves from these historical places that are important to the story of Hampton Roads.

I've never found a good recording of waves that I liked.

They're all meditative and a little too uniform.

So when you come to somewhere like this and there's enough of a breeze and there's seagulls and boats that are out there that have created different patterns in the waves, then you'll get a little more texture to it than you would get off of some website.

But I like to have my own sound effects whenever I possibly can.

I have something personal.

There's a sacredness to recording your own sounds.

They sound better because you put the effort into them, but it does mean that sometimes you have to stand in water.

- [Patrick] (chuckles) I'm gonna let you do that.

- Oh!

(clears throat) You'll never find the perfect sound unless you go out and create it yourself.

(placid music continues) You can get the peace of those spaces and also whatever the undercurrents that we all sort of know are there.

(waves crashing gently) - Today's plan is to start at the top.

Mahala, you're gonna do your first monologue.

You're like an ancient goddess who has this curse of being entrapped in a 16-year-old body and knowing what's gonna happen 500 years in the future and having to try to communicate to these folks, because if you can get them to understand what you're saying through your metaphors, then maybe it'll be different.

- Mm-hmm.

Not that it ends up bad.

We have a lot of hope in the end.

There are these tableaus with India where she's sharing these very profound epithets of the rising tides situation and the wealth disparity and the racial disparity.

Welcome to the Promised Land.

That's the name of this house.

The floors have been polished with the sweat of God.

The stairs are crooked and pipes are always bursting.

The words that were chosen, they were chosen for a reason.

And I'm just really hoping that you're attuned to what I'm saying.

- Is it raining yet?

- No, not yet, but I can feel it.

The storm is definitely coming.

You seem like you're feeling better after you had that cold!

- My bees are coming back to the house!

- To sleep, even.

I'm an Army brat, self-proclaimed.

Theater, something that I felt comfortable with from such a young age.

And when you're constantly moving around, it was important.

- Knock, knock!

- Hey, baby!

- Oh, hi mom.

Sorry I'm late.

There was the tunnel, oh, and then there was a train.

At the very beginning of the process, Chantal sat down with all of us to talk about if we had any initial ideas, and so many directors don't take the time to get to know their actors.

- Oh, hello, Charles.

- Why, hello, Han Zulu.

(both laugh) - After the first salon, Moriah and I were like, "We need to be involved in this project.

I don't care how, let's find whoever is in charge and say, 'Hey, we wanna be in this.'"

- This past weekend was huge for me.

My art gallery opening and- - That's right.

I'm sorry, I'm- - Yeah, I know, I know.

You had to work, - [Son] Mama, your favorite son is home!

- My baby boy!

- The play is meant to represent our community and the thing that's coming to get everyone is sea level rising.

(both imitating "Jaws" theme) - Oh, I think we're gonna need a bigger boat!

And when this one thing comes in and it legitimately affects all of us equitably, then we have to work together to solve it.

Does anyone even come through the front door?

- Must be a delivery or something?

- I'm sorry, I'm late.

There was a situation at the hospital and then the tunnel is backed up.

Foxy have these rich auntie vibes and so when I think of rich auntie, I think of someone that is living their best life.

- Nothing like a weekend vacation an hour from my house.

- Your sister calls it a staycation in the group text.

I like that!

- There's a group text?

Why am I not in the group text?

- You've got these seven siblings who all have the same parent, but we are each our own personality because each of these cities operate and think differently.

We're also doing costumes.

I'm gonna give Isis to Demetria.

- Demetria's our costume designer and when we first started talking about it, I was trying to think who had the most extensive collections of stuff, and reached out to the Opera.

(gentle music) - [Pat] So do you wanna look around and see what we have?

- Yeah!

Demetria's had a wide variety of fashion experience so she can help guide how we do that.

It was really inspiring, things like the Opera offering us their costumes and allowing us to use our imaginations.

- First of all, I just wanna hug this room.

- [Demetria] Oh, my gosh.

How long have you been in the costume shop here?

- [Pat] (laughs) Since 1981.

How about that?

- Wow!

Holy cow!

I'm super excited about what we can do with props.

It looks like they have everything.

Feels good not to be so rigid with it or feeling like just some kind of limit.

It feels limitless.

- Yeah.

It feels open right now.

Yeah.

The people who were willing to help us and the resources that they were able to give really did shape a lot of what we were able to do.

The second of the act wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for the Opera.

(laughs) We never would've been able to find that many costumes.

- We'll work through the rest of act one and some little bits tomorrow, but for the rest of today, we're gonna have a little more fun with some vaudevilles.

- Act two, we know what we wanna do.

We've got a basic outline of some things that would be really cool to see.

- Everybody has these vignettes.

It shouldn't be longer than a minute and a half.

- They've heard some of the things that we were passionate about and they tried to incorporate that.

- It was really fun getting to be a little bit creative and capitalizing on educating the audience why we did a vaudeville act.

- Considering just the Attucks and the space that it's in, is anyone doing anything that involves any type of spoken word or poetry?

- [Chantal] Not in the script right now, but we can definitely consider it if you have a place where it could go or an idea of who it would be.

- We get to the second part of the show.

We have to keep in mind that the Attucks was particularly for Black artists to highlight their skills.

There have been so many singers that have been in that space and their words and their lyrics are very much like poetry, and I'm gonna find some way to blend them together.

- Yeah, okay.

Can we have five about it though?

- Yeah!

(both laugh) I'm like, this is it!

- Go write it, go write it, go write it!

(fountain splashing) - So what we're gonna do is we're gonna work that scene.

You two are having this very cool, close sibling moment on the couch.

We're gonna kind of go over that dialogue to see how it flows and we'll do some discussion afterwards.

All right?

- Okay.

- Yeah, okay.

All right.

- Because we were building the dynamic amongst the cast, we wanted each of the family members to have a relationship to each other.

- Nice.

- Ah, (beep)!

- Oh, swear jar!

- Oh, well, you wish you could afford what I got in this vape, country girl.

- (laughs) you can dish it, but you can't take it, huh?

Better not let Charlie catch you with the devil's lettuce.

- Yeah, what's she gonna do?

Baptize me with lavender and sandalwood?

Essential oils?

- [Brittney] Whatchu feeling?

I'm noticing something.

What's up?

- Why are you so mean?

He doesn't have to be mean all the time.

- It's coming off as Victor's character is like very one-note.

- He's just a jerk all the time.

There's no reason for anyone to like me.

I don't have a problem playing a bad guy as long as he is written well.

Can we improv within the context of what we just did and see- - Absolutely.

- All right.

- All right.

- Yeah.

- Hmm, so you're walking... Oh, nice!

- Oh, (beep)!

- Oh, swear jar!

- Oh, come on.

In between you picking on me and getting rained on outside, I'd say it's a much-deserved break.

- Better not let Charlie catch you with the devil's lettuce.

(laughs) - (scoffs) All those oils.

What, you gonna baptize me in some sandalwood or lavender, something like that?

- I mean, she just might.

She's a little puritanical like that.

- Nice.

Tender, real.

That adjustment right there, I think, is a great way for us to go with all the characters.

- When you're an actor, you take on a lot of different roles and usually you know what those roles are gonna be.

On this particular process, being devised theater, there's an opportunity to create that person as well.

- We don't have to be mean, mean, mean, mean, mean, you're the worst city ever, because it's not true.

We are all in this together.

We all bring our qualities and our not-so-great sides.

and that's what makes this all work.

- I was making sure that not only were the words being honored, but the artistic integrity of the artists were being honored as well.

(fountain splashing) - [Mahala] Anytime we went to go visit my grandparents, my grandmother, right away, she would just pinch my cheeks so hard.

That was just her sign of affection.

- For everybody else in the cast, it was sibling bonds that were trying to be created, but for me it was parent-child relationships or in one case, grandparent-grandchild relationships.

(gentle music) There's all that history in the house and everybody wants a piece of the history.

But at the same time, if the house is gone and Mama and India live in the house, then what happens to them?

Nobody's in the position to take us in, and I don't think we would wanna go with any of them.

- Paula has such a calm and gentle spirit.

I just really gravitated towards her.

- I was like, "Ooh, how exciting!

I got a role!"

And then, I was like, "Ooh, how exciting.

I got a role.

I got all these lines to remember."

In college it was easy to find out about things that were going on, and after college I just really didn't pursue it.

I had jobs that always required evening and weekend work, so the two of them just didn't seem to fit in together.

I could tell when you were struggling.

- I was like by your side.

(laughs) I need that Paula energy to get me through it.

- Yes.

I need that energy too.

Finding the character and getting back into that mode of being on stage and having to memorize lines and the whole, the interaction and the blocking.

So let me give you that family thing.

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - Hi, everybody!

Welcome!

I am so excited to see these faces in this room tonight.

What you see to the side and behind me are some of our incredible 10 local cast members who are bringing this play to life.

- One thing you should know is that all the actors just got new scripts printed today.

- It's a lot to ask actors who are not used to working with raw dough in front of people to do that work.

- I think what will be fun is to just keep going and not skip karaoke.

- [Audience Members] Oh.

- Is karaoke... (laughs) - We weren't prepared for what was gonna happen that night, so everything was really, really, truly fresh.

- Felicia, you're gonna come out with the karaoke machine and set it up in the living room area.

- A lot of us felt blindsided by it, to be honest.

It was a bit uncomfortable.

(energetic, funky music) (cast members laughing) The "We Are Family" moment was important for all of the siblings to realize that we can't enjoy each other's company.

(actor speaks indistinctly) ♪ I got all my sisters with me ♪ ♪ We are family ♪ - Some of the things that you saw on stage, me doing with my entrance, came from that night.

So even though we as the cast felt off, (laughs) it did help us in our process.

♪ Get up, everybody, and sing ♪ - We all learned our verses and learned the lyrics, then we kind of learned their little dance and everything like that.

And it was a cool way to set up what was to come as well.

(pensive music) - What's your relationship to the family?

- Our characters had so much age difference between them that we didn't really get to interact, but she kinda looks up to you.

- Aw.

What do you like about Foxy?

- (laughs) I think she's just so confident in herself and I feel like Charlie definitely has those moments where she puts on a air of confidence, but because of her trauma at home, it's not really there.

- When we had that opportunity for me to go to her house and spend time with her, we were able to talk candidly about who we are as individuals, as well as the characters.

- And I've taken some step back from the organized structure of religion , trying to find my way through the universe and what my walk and my faith look like.

The strictness of religion really did a job on me.

Coming out to my parents as bisexual, there was a lot of hardship there.

Certain areas of Hampton Roads have very big religious organizations and people in those communities, and Charlie represents those and those people.

Taking on the role was a little difficult in some ways.

I was feeling like I was confronting a little bit of my past while trying to make her a realistic character.

- It's so interesting 'cause I don't think I knew how much you have created this character based off of like your own personal experience.

- Bringing your own personal experience into it, make it the most authentic, especially if it's about the community.

- It made our characters stronger because we have this bond, and I think that's one of the things that could really help the cities, too.

Even though you may have differences and you may have a different background, that we really can work together.

(uplifting music) ♪ Sisters, sisters ♪ ♪ there were never such devoted sisters ♪ ♪ Never had to have a chaperone, no sir ♪ ♪ I'm here to keep my eye on her ♪ - Do you think you feel a responsibility to the house or do you feel like you have a responsibility to the family?

'Cause I feel like it's an emotional thing for me.

- Yeah, so even though the storm is terrifying to think about, it's kind of a blessing in disguise for Alpha, me, because it made me feel like I had a chance to regain that feeling of family that I had when we were all living in the house together.

- I think out of all of us, we are the closest in terms of a relationship.

During those breakout sessions, I learned a lot about my scene partners, but I also got to carve out things about my own character.

I love that scene because you can see how deep an actual relationship between the siblings is.

- Yeah.

Isis is a very, very good scene partner, and it was so fun just to be acting with her.

♪ Sister, don't come between me and my man ♪ (both laugh) (pensive music) - A sad designer's job is incredibly hard and usually you would have a shop that could build everything, and that is not a situation that we were in.

So Terry spent weeks at the scene shop at Virginia Wesleyan, who agreed to let us work there.

(pensive music continues) - The set should contribute to the story, it should support it, and also add visual elements wherever it can.

I was looking for patterns of things that were coming up that sparked a visual image.

Water was definitely one of the first ones.

The aspects of being both what holds this area together as an identity, but also what is splitting up so much of it.

We found a group of maps that compliment the colors that are in the paint at the Attucks, the teal and the gold and this maroon.

We really wanted to do as much of this scenic build out of repurposed and recycled materials.

We have flats that we had got from other theaters that we took apart and rebuilt to fit what we needed.

We got pallets from a local warehouse.

My Buy Nothing group on Facebook has been donating all kinds of cardboard boxes and air-filled packaging, which is why it's such a mess in here.

(laughs) (pensive music) - I grew up in Norfolk, and I've always seen the Attucks Theatre.

I was inspired to write a piece that talked about its history and then also the future of what it means in this form of a dream.

- Is this more of a "I have a dream," Martin Luther King feel, or am I in a Erykah Badu-type feel for having a dream?

- For this, I think the intention is waking up and having this dream that is so much larger than yourself that you have to say it out loud.

- Oh, what a dream.

What a dream I had last night.

It was really important to add that piece of spoken word, because it really brought everything together about what is the Attucks.

I come unto you in the thickness of the cloud in order that the people may hear, and also so that they may believe.

What is our history?

Have we achieved what it means to be free?

That theater was not just a have-fun theater.

That piece was not just a have-fun piece.

- The piece was able to breathe in the narratives and the ancestors of the Attucks.

(no audio) (upbeat music) - Loading in the set was a little bit of a challenge, because it is a historical theater that isn't used regularly for productions like this.

We were asking for some things that hadn't been used in a long time, so we had to make sure that we were respecting and taking care of the space.

- Come to me, because we're going to lay it that way, being that it's going that way.

- The fire curtain became really a big piece for us.

It's just a scenic designer's dream.

It's a beautiful piece.

It's got all of this history and age to it and texture, and it was already there and ready to fly.

For the community to see that space with something that was made here on the stage, I think that that's really special.

- [Jon] Walking through the theater, you see that there's 30, 40, 50 people working on some aspect of making the play possible.

It's a really special microcosm of the wider swath of community engagement.

(upbeat music continues) - The ramp-up to the performance definitely felt exciting.

Every time you came to rehearsal, there was something new.

We had the lights there, the sets coming together, the props coming together, the costumes are coming together.

Everybody was able to feed off of that.

That was a really fun part of the process.

- That's good.

Stay in the same speed as Denise so that y'all arrive at the same time.

- It was just everybody running around everywhere.

That's the beauty of theater.

Every show that you work on, no matter how much hard work you put into it, it's this cacophony of organized chaos.

- It's so exciting when you walk in for the first time and see this beautiful set that is just reality.

That's when you feel like we're ready to put this show on.

♪ Caring, sharing every little thing that we are wearing ♪ - It's a very overwhelming experience when you first go into the Attucks, because these incredible musicians had done their acts there, and now we are a part of that lineage.

- The floors have been polished with the sweat of gods, the Booker-T, the Attucks, Apollo of the South!

Oh, what a dream.

What a dream I had last night.

- I'm really excited by how the work has come together and how everybody's working at such a high level of excitement and passion for the project.

Being a couple days out from the performances, everything is stitching together as we expected.

♪ Every time I get an opportunity to warm up my voice ♪ ♪ I'm gonna woman up, woman up ♪ ♪ Every time I get an opportunity to warm up my voice ♪ - Religion has music, it has pageantry, it has art.

At the beginning of the process, we don't know that we're gonna need a musical to end the show, but what would raise up the piece, turn it into a sacred moment, and give it that button of aspiration and hope.

- A one, two, three, we have- ♪ We survive ♪ ♪ We survive ♪ ♪ We survive ♪ ♪ We survive ♪ ♪ We survive ♪ - The Inheritance Project is extremely fortunate to have been collaborating for years with Denise Manning and with Ellie Khan.

- Music is one of the 100% unequivocal ways to prove that God exists.

You can like fill it in your body and hear it in your mind.

It can change your mood.

- Music really is that connective tissue.

It's the thing that brings me and Denise together.

In act three, we head 500 years in the future all of a sudden, right?

And uses these lyrics of Exodus to convey to the audience and teach each other and really give reverence to the family, from the first act, - Even though it was very tight in time, it was great to have Ellie and Denise, because they really were able to create something quite glorious.

- One, two, three, and- ♪ We survive, oh, yeah ♪ - Ellie and Denise are amazing, talented, professional human beings, and the music itself was just so beautiful.

- Having those two take over and direct that particular piece totally transformed the spirit of act three.

It was really, really special.

♪ Oh, yeah, oh, yeah ♪ - It was neat to leave the audience with one big moment.

(participant laughs and applauds) (gentle music) - Welcome to the Promised Land!

That's the name of this house.

I've always thought of it as a sacred space, a temple, a place of worship.

- Going out on that stage that very first night, all I can think of is, please let everybody land their lines and please let the audience hear India's monologues.

- The trouble in the Promised Land doesn't have the same type of clear beginning.

Depending on who you talk to and when you talk to them, you'll hear many different stories of how it started, all about the house and the water and the people.

- We're so in it in the creation.

Everything makes sense to us.

Is the audience gonna understand what you're trying to say?

- Oh, hi, baby.

- Hey, Mama.

- I didn't see you come in.

- I came in the side door.

- Aw.

Have you eaten yet?

- Yeah, I ate already.

- Well, I'll fix you a snack.

How was your flight?

- The first night was just magic.

It was just like, there it is all together.

- Can't you stay?

This is really important to me.

And I've made your favorite, Smithfield ham.

- Well, I'll stay for dinner, okay?

Just as long as you don't force me to sit next to new money again.

- Mom, your favorite son is here!

- There's my baby boy!

- Opening night was awesome, because we finally had an audience and we finally got to see what was gonna work.

You know that hot new place in town?

Well, I got a table at 2200 hours.

Pharrell could barely get a reservation there.

- The best part for me is the audience.

Seeing them go, "Mm, that sounds like this city here."

- Sorry I'm late.

There was a situation at the hospital and then the tunnel was backed up and then there was a train and then the street was flooded.

Definitely was a little nervous.

I was worried about how it looks to the audience, 'cause when I perform, I wanna make sure that this seems authentic.

(wind whooshing) - The sound of freedom!

(audience laughs) - Art is a form of expression.

It can tell a story.

It can tell you your hopes and dreams, and hopefully the Hampton Roads area can come together and stop fighting so much.

- Nothing like a vacation an hour from home.

- Oh, your sister called it a staycation in the group text.

I like that!

- There's a group text?

Why am I not in the group text?

- This project opens people's eyes to realize that there's tension that need to be fixed.

- Did you see they already tore down those houses on the corner?

- Yeah.

So sad.

- Infuriating.

- Where are we all supposed to go?

- Right?

- Hey, Alphie.

- Hey.

- All right.

What's going on?

- This past weekend was huge for me.

My art gallery opening.

- Oh, that's right.

I'm sorry, it was- - I know, I know.

You had to work.

Yeah, I know.

And no one showed up, including Mom.

- It made me sad as someone who grew up here not knowing some of the history of my own town.

(thunder crashes) - Whoa, you're really wet.

- I don't think I can get out.

I don't think any of us can.

- This is a less intimidating way to get people to come together to talk about the issues that Hampton Roads has as a whole.

I know you all have questions for why I insisted you all be here tonight.

I'm gonna get right to it.

I'm leaving the Promised Land.

- [All] What?

- It's settled and there's nothing to do about it.

- It really is an honor to be chosen to do something like this, because you're telling the story of the community.

No matter what you say, the tide is coming.

- Not here, it's not.

- I don't think you can keep it out.

- Well, with enough money and power, you can turn back the tide.

- This show brings exposure to things that aren't necessarily sparkly and fun to talk about, but they're happening and they're happening to you.

- The house is shaking!

- Why is it raining in here?

- What happened to the roof?

- What are we gonna do?

- Using a text that is fairly universal allowed us to find some nuance into the story of this community that wouldn't have necessarily come out otherwise.

(delicate music) ♪ Da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da ♪ - Hello, handsome humans.

You are in for a surprise, because Friday night at the Attucks means our weekly, wondrous talent show!

♪ Nothin' but blue skies do I see ♪ - There's a Jewish idea of tikkun olam, which means to heal the world.

That's what I really think that we're doing.

Whatever people call God, it moves through the Inheritance Project.

We just try to be good shepherds and good stewards, too, ♪ When you're in love, mighty fine ♪ because there's some kind of magic that's happening that's out of our control.

♪ Sisters, sisters ♪ ♪ There were never such devoted sisters ♪ - I'm getting to work with folks that we've worked with here as a reminder of this is why I do it, because I love meeting people and I love learning stories, and I feel so unbelievably lucky to be trusted with this work.

♪ My sister ♪ ♪ And Lord help the sister who comes between me and my man ♪ (audience applauds) - Ruth Brown, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington.

We are the echoes of our ancestors' songs and the ripples in their plans.

We are the hope they dreamed of.

Oh, what a dream.

What a dream I had last night.

(audience applauds) - Do you ever play Super Mario Brothers?

You know when you level up, you get to be Super Super Mario?

That's what it's felt like to work in Hampton Roads.

♪ Another side ♪ - We set out to do good work (choking up) that has an impact on the community that brings people together and shows them something beautiful, powerful, challenging.

Our standard has been raised of what it looks like for a community to show up, to be able to go on this deeply intense, deeply personal journey and be given such a platform to do that work is the privilege of a lifetime.

♪ All those who come shall be there themselves ♪ - There's a craving for collaboration in the artist community, and this project gave people some tools.

♪ All those who come ♪ - What I take away from this whole process is how much the community at large really wants to have these conversations.

- Thank you, Inheritance, for coming in and getting us out to speak about this.

Thank you for providing us the script, but then also, thank you for giving the script to us to do.

♪ All those who come shall be there themselves ♪ - The question that I keep getting asked is, am I going to continue?

And my answer is, I'm leaving the door open.

We'll see.

♪ Five, six, seven, eight, oh, yeah ♪ - I'm just really grateful that I was able to be a part of something that was much bigger than just me or the cast itself.

- Everyone has different experiences, so being able to bring all of those together in this one show was really impactful.

- Welcome to the Jubilee Festival of the future of us!

- It's lit a fire for this community and how they're working and striving to better the Hampton Roads area.

- Rise up, declare our inheritance!

- I definitely wanna continue working on projects that makes people think and provoke people to change.

- I was really happy to have been a part of it and I was very grateful for the friendships that I had made in the cast.

♪ Oh, yeah, we survive ♪ - This project taught me I am actually a part of this community now.

- They set out what they accomplished, which was to leave it in our hands.

I would put it upon you to go out there and work hard and be there for each other.

- I hope that the community in Hampton Roads find connection, find relationship, find ways to work together.

That's a big deal and it means the world.

(energetic music) (energetic music continues) (audience cheering) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music fades) (gentle music) - [Announcer] Major support comes from the Goode Family Foundation.