Voices Upcoming 2026-2027 Season

Powerful Groundbreaking Theatre Continues....

Le Code Noir

Le Code Noir is a historical outdoor drama set in Louisiana and created by Tommye Myrick in collaboration with Mark R. Sumner, former Director Emeritus of the Institute of Outdoor Drama. Its title refers to the 1685 edict issued by King Louis XIV of France, which later became law in Louisiana during the antebellum era. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, enslaved Africans gathered at a site away from the Mississippi River known as Place des Négres, now called Congo Square. These gatherings were permitted under provisions associated with Le Code Noir.

Set in antebellum Louisiana, Le Code Noir dramatizes events that shaped both Louisiana and the United States. The story centers on Santee, an 16-year-old enslaved African girl who arrives on the auction block in New Orleans from Saint-Domingue in 1794 after her former owner fled the Haitian Revolution. Over the next twenty-five years, the play traces her life against major historical events that helped shape Louisiana’s culture. Through her perspective, audiences witness the Haitian Revolution, Spain’s return of Louisiana to France, the Louisiana Purchase, the 1811 slave revolt, the War of 1812, and the Battle of New Orleans. The play also explores social customs of the period, including placage.

Mary is My Name

In the New Testament, Mary was a very common name. Six women with this name appear prominently in the life of Jesus and the early church.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, also called the Virgin Mary, was a descendant of David, betrothed to Joseph, and visited by the angel Gabriel. She miraculously gave birth to Jesus and was present at His birth, His first miracle, His crucifixion, and in the early church.

Mary Magdalene, from Magdala on the Sea of Galilee, was healed of seven demons and became a devoted follower of Jesus. She witnessed His crucifixion and burial and was the first to see the risen Christ.

Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, lived in Bethany near Jerusalem. She sat at Jesus’ feet to learn and anointed His head with costly oil before His burial.

Mary, the mother of James the Younger and Joseph (also called Joses), was also known as the wife of Clopas or Alphaeus. She was present at the crucifixion and the resurrection and is sometimes identified as “the other Mary” who met the angel at the empty tomb.

Mary, the Wife of Clopas, often identified with the Mary above, stood by the cross and was among the women who discovered the empty tomb.

Mary, the mother of John Mark, hosted early church gatherings in her home, where Peter came after his miraculous release from prison. Her son, John Mark, later became a companion of Paul and Barnabas. Mary is My Name is a stage play written by Tommye Myrick about the six Marys in the Bible. New Testament

Anne & Emmett

“Anne & Emmett,” Janet Langhart Cohen’s groundbreaking play, imagines a conversation between Anne Frank and Emmett Till. Frank describes her time hiding in an attic during the Holocaust, while Till recounts his tragic experience with racial hatred and violence in the American South. Together, they explore reconciliation and hope in this powerful work, which has earned critical acclaim across the United States and as far away as Jerusalem.

Langhart Cohen said, “I wrote the play as a call to action to help eradicate racism and anti-Semitism.” Anne and Emmett, two very different teenagers, lived in societies that failed to protect them because of hatred and the silence of bystanders.

Although the hatred that claimed their lives persists, the play urges us not only to remember, but also to act. To advance that mission, she and Secretary Cohen founded Race and Reconciliation in America, a nonprofit organization that hosts conferences bringing together people of all races and ethnicities for open, honest dialogue that fosters understanding, tolerance, and greater humanity in how we treat one another.

The Gospel at Colonus

"The Gospel at Colonus" is an African American gospel musical that adapts Sophocles’ tragedy "Oedipus at Colonus," combining ancient Greek drama with modern gospel music. Created in 1983 by director Lee Breuer and composer Bob Telson, "The Gospel at Colonus" retells Sophocles’ story of Oedipus as a Black Pentecostal church service, using gospel music, dance, and sermon-style narration to bring the story to life.

The story centers on Oedipus, the exiled king of Thebes, as he seeks refuge in Colonus with his daughter Antigone. Through the preacher’s sermon, the narrative revisits Oedipus’s tragic past, including his exile and self-blinding after learning the truth about his parents. Although the townspeople fear him because of his cursed history, King Theseus shows compassion and grants him sanctuary. The musical highlights themes of redemption, suffering, and reconciliation, encouraging audiences to reflect on spiritual and emotional liberation.

Family Tree

Family Tree weaves together the story of Henrietta Lacks—whose cells were taken without her consent—with the voices of Anarcha, Betsey, Lucy, and NHS nurses during the pandemic. Moving lyrically between past and present, it restores overlooked legacies, confronts injustice, and envisions change.

Henrietta Lacks (August 1, 1920 – October 4, 1951) was an African American woman whose cancer cells led to the creation of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line and one of the most significant tools in medical research. Because these cells can keep reproducing indefinitely under the right conditions, HeLa cells remain essential to research today.