Overview

He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box
By Adrienne Kennedy
Directed by Nicole A. Watson
Now streaming on demand

It is 1941, and Kay and Chris are in love. Yet the letters they exchange are not tender professions, but painful reminiscences—of Chris’ wealthy white father who laid the architecture for local segregation, of Kay’s brutalized Black mother whose death remains a mystery, and of the myriad forces that separate them. Written in 2018, Adrienne Kennedy’s newest work is a brief but expansive memory play that conjures “dread, romance and a tragic surrealism all at once” (New York Times). He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box is a heartbreaking collage of family memories, historical specters, and theatrical allusions, hypnotically woven together with a poetry that is distinctively Kennedy’s own.

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He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box runs approximately 35 minutes.
Content Warning: He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box features adult language and mature themes, including allusions to racial and sexual violence and murder.

He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box is part of The Work of Adrienne Kennedy: Inspiration & Influence play festival produced in association with McCarter Theatre Center.

Round House Theatre’s 2020-2021 Reimagined Virtual Season is sponsored by Mitch & Heidi Dupler, Linda Ravdin & Don Shapero, and The Zickler Family.
The Work of Adrienne Kennedy: Inspiration and Influence festival is underwritten by The RPM Fund.
He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box is sponsored by Jay & Robin Hammer.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL:
Hailed as “American theatre’s greatest and least compromising experimentalist” (New York Times), Adrienne Kennedy is one of the most prolific and widely studied living playwrights. Since bursting onto the scene in 1964 with Funnyhouse of a Negro, Kennedy’s enthralling lyrical dramas have influenced generations of storytellers, from Suzan-Lori Parks to Robert O’Hara, Shonda Rhimes to Jeremy O. Harris. Despite her outsized influence, three Obie Awards, and induction into the Theater Hall of Fame, Adrienne Kennedy is not a household name. This festival is a celebration of why she should be. Round House shines a light on four deeply personal stories from Kennedy’s astonishing body of work with virtual theatrical experiences and dynamic conversations, offering audiences the opportunity to discover Kennedy’s singular voice—a startling mix of the surreal with the all too real.

NOTE: Plays will be released weekly and will be available on demand through April 30, 2021. Patrons may purchase a full festival pass or choose individual plays.

Cast

Creative Team

Maya Jackson

Kay

Maya Jackson returns to Round House after appearing in the webseries Homebound. DC credits include Kid Prince and Pablo at the Kennedy Center; Twelfth Night or What You Will and Free For All: All's Well That Ends Well at Shakespeare Theatre Company; Full Circle at Woolly Mammoth; Swampoodle at Solas Nua; Holly Down in Heaven at Forum Theatre; and Me and the Devil Blues at Flying V. Her regional credits include The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-Time at Actors Theatre of Louisville; Shipwrecked! at Great River Shakespeare Festival; Jar the Floor at Arkansas Rep; Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play at The Unicorn Theatre; Simon Dawes Becomes a Planet at Time Shared in New York; and The Winter's Tale at Heart of America Shakespeare Festival. Maya received her MFA in Acting from the University of Missouri.

Michael Sweeney Hammond

Chris

Michael Sweeney Hammond returns to Round House after previously appearing in Oslo. DC credits include Julius Caesar (FFA) and All’s Well That Ends Well (FFA) at Shakespeare Theatre; and Solid Gold Cadillac at Studio Theatre. Off-Broadway/New York credits include The Rivals at NY Classical Theatre; Hamlet. A Version at Theatre at St. Clements; and As You Like It and Cymbeline at Back Room Shakespeare Project. Regional credits include In the Heat of the Night at LA Theatre Works; His Girl Friday and Car Plays: San Diego at La Jolla Playhouse; Honor Killing at Florida Studio Theatre; Torchbearers at Williamstown Theatre Festival; A Devil at Noon at Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center; and Timbuktu, USA at Boston's Sleeping Weasel. Training includes MFA, UC San Diego and BA, Brown University.

Agyeiwaa Asante

Stage Directions

Agyeiwaa Asante is a local Ghanaian-American playwright. She’s excited to continue her relationship with Round House, last seen as a playwright for the webseries Homebound. Agyeiwaa is also currently the Artistic Assistant at Round House after working as the Literary Apprentice for the 2019-20 season and assistant directing for School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play under Nicole A. Watson. Her first play, Swirl, was presented at the Kennedy Center’s Page-to-Stage Festival before going on to the Watermelon One-Act Festival in 2019, winning best production. Her second play, Help Wanted, premiered at the Silver Spring One Act Festival. She will be a featured playwright at the University of Maryland’s Fearless New Play Festival this Fall. She is currently a member of D.C. Dramatists. Her work can be found on the New Play Exchange. B.A. in Theatre from the University of Maryland.