Jillian Walker:
Songs of Speculation

November 1 - 3, 2018

Journey with Jillian Walker into archival history. Songs of Speculation is a lecture that explodes into multi-form performance, calling on the body, time, and the power of music to reclaim histories forgotten or lost. Starting outside of time itself, entering 18th century Louisiana, weaving through a reimagining of Sally Hemings and looping into the future, Walker writes a story of sovereignty for black women in America.

Direction: Mei Ann Teo
Lights: Tuce Yasak
The ‘Songs’ Brain and Body Trust: Brandon Webster, Dominique Rider, Jess Applebaum, Kris Sidberry, Susan Heyward

Jillian Walker is a playwright, performer, dramaturg, and thinker who is shaping culture through interdisciplinary forms of performance. Commissioned by Soho Rep and named “one of New York City’s most exciting playwrights” by the Bushwick Starr, her play, SKiNFoLK: An American Show, has appeared in ANT Fest at Ars Nova and the inaugural SPARK Festival for new small musicals at Pittsburgh CLO. Her first play, Sarah’s Salt., has received developmental support from Roundabout Theater Company, MCC Theater, and was chosen as an Honorable Mention for the 2017 Relentless Award (American Playwriting Foundation). With dramaturgy as the core of her artistic practice, Jillian is theatermaker as archaeologist. She investigates the processes and workings of time, ritual, identity and structure to unearth the ways theatrical forms can impact the larger cultural landscape. She was the 2017-18 artist-in-residence at University Musical Society (University of Michigan) where she researched her new play, Tignon, and Songs of Speculation. She holds an MFA in Dramaturgy from Columbia University.