SUMMER PLAY LAB: CONVERSATIONS

BY MARTHA REDBONE, WITH AARON WHITBY

Sunday, August 4th at 4:00pm
LIVE at Ancram Center for the Arts

presented as part of Ancram Center’s Summer Play Lab
in collaboration with The Civilians, NYC

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PROGRAM

Conversations is a new music theater project based on stories told to Martha by indigenous elders who have been in her life for decades.

Oftentimes we don’t get to hear the viewpoints of elders, and their role in the world we live in today. The piece we’re developing will be based on intimate conversations with elders who have been in my life for decades, family members and advisors I have longtime personal relationships with; these are stories about their lives, personal experiences and various topics all seen through their eyes and observations. They have given me the honor and permission to work with The Civilians team where I will turn their stories into songs written with my longtime collaborator Aaron Whitby. I’m thrilled to have this special time to develop it during the Ancram Center residency.

-Martha Redbone

About the Artists

Martha Redbone is a vocalist, songwriter, composer and 2021 United States Artist fellow and multi award-winning musician, she is celebrated for her tasty gumbo of roots music embodying the folk and mountain blues sounds of her childhood in the Appalachian hills of Black Mountain, Kentucky, infused with the eclectic grit of her teenage years in pre-gentrified Brooklyn. Inheriting her powerful gospel-singing father’s voice and the resilient spirit of her mother’s Southeastern culture and heritage, Redbone broadens the boundaries of American Roots music with songs and storytelling that give voice to issues of social justice, connecting cultures and celebrating the human spirit. Martha works in partnership with longtime collaborator/husband Aaron Whitby. 

Her album The Garden of Love: Songs of William Blake (produced by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder and Grammy-winner John McEuen), is “a brilliant collision of cultures” (New Yorker). Redbone and Whitby are the composers, arrangers and orchestrators of original music and score for the 2022 Broadway revival of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuff, the 1976 classic choreopoem by the late Ntozake Shange, which garnered seven Tony Award nominations and critical acclaim. Redbone and Whitby are the 2020 Drama Desk Award recipients for Outstanding Music in a Play and the 2020 Audelco Award recipient for Outstanding Composer of Original Music and Score for the Off-Broadway revival. 

Aaron Whitby is an award-winning pianist, songwriter, composer, record producer, and engineer known for his work with an array of noteworthy artists, including George Clinton, Natalie Cole, Randy Brecker. Born and bred in London, England, Whitby is best known for his work with his longtime collaborator and wife, Martha Redbone. Whitby is the brainchild behind Cousin from Another Planet- a Jazz and Visual exploration project, receiving critical acclaim and accolades from music journalist and critic Greg Tate as “Percolating, stimulating and motor- booty activatin’…”. Additional works from the Redbone/Whitby composer team include “Revelation” by Flannery O’Connor directed by Karin Coonrod (2022), “HUMAN” an exploration in puppetry directed by Nehprii Amenii (2024), song contribution for "Primer for a Failed Superpower" directed by Rachel Chavkin (2019); “Flood in the Valley”, a Chinese -American musical collaboration directed by Michael Liebenluft (2018), “Stars” - Privacy in the Digital Age in 5-Minute Plays (2018), commissioned by the New York Theater Workshop and Goethe Institute, and many more. Whitby and Redbone are recipients of Creative Capital awardees, the New England Foundation for the Arts Award, MAPFund and National Performance Network Creation Fund. The team are currently in development with Black Mountain Women, a new musical directed by Les Waters, book by Naomi Iizuka, commissioned by the Public Theater, NY. As with Redbone, we are excited to partner with Whitby because of his unique and energetic musical collaborations with Redbone that highlight, preserve, and share the stories, cultures, and voices of our country’s marginalized communities.

Steve Cosson is a director, writer, and Artistic Director of The Civilians. He’s led many projects with the company, with productions at major Off-Broadway and regional theaters, several BAM Next Wave Festivals, international touring, and as artist-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Director of many world premieres by writers including José Rivera, Anne Washburn, Bess Wohl, and composer Michael Friedman. www.stevecosson.com