Mo’olelo Performing Arts Company Presents "CELL" [SDVoice.info]

This play tells the story of four African Americans who work as guards in a private immigration detention center.

This was the notable reaction from one of the cast members:

Ms. Agosto was surprised to learn that, “the exit can be just as dangerous as the entry,” and that deportation can take months. “Many of the students I work with will probably have experienced this in some way, and that affects them in the classroom. It affects their ability to learn. What kind of advocate or ally would I be if I didn’t make an effort to learn about their home-life, their immigration story, or their past?”

Here's the beginning of the story:

Lydia Fort, Executive Artist Director of Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company (MPAC), is clear about her belief in the transformational power of story to inspire social change.

The world premiere of Cell by Cassandra Medley is MPAC’s first play of the 2015-2016 season, her upcoming San Diego directorial debut and her first programmed season. This belief has been her driving force.

“Mo`olelo’s focus on producing socially-conscious theater – both by diverse artists and for diverse audiences – is what brought me to San Diego,” she says. “This provocative and layered play beautifully wrestles with issues of race, class and immigration. It is set in a profoundly unjust world of bureaucracy and corporatocracy. And yet, it manages to connect us to our shared, essential human-ness and to inspire courageous action,” says Ms. Fort. Cell tells the story of four African Americans who work as guards in a private immigration detention center. A series of explosive incidents result in life-transforming choices and decisions, and force them all to question and confront their humanity. To bring the challenging story to life, a powerhouse group of actors have been cast who are not only talented, but share a passion for social justice.

One of San Diego’s most beloved local actresses, Sylvia M’Lafi Thompson, leads the cast as the matriarch of the family. A long-time social justice activist, primarily in the civil rights movement, Ms. Thompson found the play especially compelling because of the many intersecting story lines. She calls the combination of political, family and personal issues explored in the play, “an explosive formula.” Ms. Thompson was most recently seen in Marsha Norman’s riveting drama ‘night Mother, is remembered for her appearance in Joe Turner’s

Come and Gone at the Old Globe Theatre and is a San Diego Critics Circle Craig Noel Award winner.

To continue reading this article, go to: http://sdvoice.info/moolelo-pe...mpany-presents-cell/