Wednesday, April 15

Doors open at 6:30pm

The New School
Wollman Hall
65 West 11th Street
(between 5th and 6th Avenues)

On Her Shoulders is pleased to present a FREE staged reading of SPUNK (1926) by Zora Neale Hurston, directed by Aneesha Kudtarkar. Dramaturg Sadah “Espii” Proctor will kick off the evening at 6:45 by introducing The Play in Context, which situates the script in its historical time and place. The reading will be followed by a Q&A.

SPUNK is an adaptation of Hurston’s short story by the same name. The play takes place in a rural, all-black Southern town, much like Hurston’s home of Eatonville, Florida, the first incorporated African American township in the United States. The action centers on Spunk Banks, who comes to town and tames the big blade at the local sawmill while stealing another man’s wife, Lena. Like many of Hurston’s tales, it deals with the nature of marriage and with a struggle between a strong man and a weak one.

To RSVP, email OnHerShouldersReservations@gmail.com.