Resmaa Menakem debuts Afro-futuristic ‘Mothership’ at Penumbra
When it comes to a new stage play by best-selling author Resmaa Menakem, let's hope it's just a work of a brilliantly imaginative mind and not a harbinger of things to come.
With the news of multiple researchers at AI company Anthropic raising concerns over concerns that the technology could wipe out humanity within the next decade, the Afro-futuristic “Mothership,” could seem like a “how to” and not a “what if.” Set in the not too distant future, “Mothership,” which runs at Penumbra Sept. 10 - Oct. 4, takes the audience on a ride into the cosmos with five souls seeking to flee a doomed earth.
For Menakem, who co-wrote “Mothership” with Kristen Adele Calhoun, the play is actually less about gloom, but more about joy.
“When we talk about Black joy, this play for me, it really is about the reclamation of Black Joy,” said Menakem, New York Times best selling author of “My Grandmother’s Hands.” “It is about what are the things we need to let go of in order for joy to emerge more fully.”
Mindful of the history and legacy of Penumbra, Menakem said though “Mothership” is set in the future, it is rooted in the gifts offered by our contemporaries and those who preceded us.
“I don’t write ‘Mothership’ without knowing who Fannie Lou Hamer is; I don’t write ‘Mothership’ without knowing who Octavia Butler is, I don’t write ‘Mothership’ without knowing who Angela Davis is,” said Menakem during a Sept. 4 interview on Power 104.7 FM. “I don’t write ‘Mothership’ without knowing who Prince was, I don’t write ‘Mothership’ without knowing who George Clinton is. Each one of those giants and everybody who nurtured them enabled me to inquire into what might something else look like.”
Menakem said he hopes “Mothership” will inspire joy for both today’s audience and audiences for generations to come.
“(I wrote ‘Mothership’) sort of like August Wilson did with his plays. August Wilson wrote (his) plays … not necessarily for those who were on his timeline. He wrote those plays for the next nine, 10, generations to be nurtured,” said Menakem.
“Mothership”
Sept. 10 - Oct. 4
$20-$45
Penumbra Theatre
270 N. Kent St
St. Paul, MN 55102
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