THE SLAYING OF INNOCENCE fuses storytelling, music, and visual art to create a compelling artistic testimony about America's broken and racialized legal system and the triumph of hope. It is a music-theatre work that emerges from the lived experiences of African American men who have served or are currently serving prison sentences. Devised by four artists directly impacted by the carceral system—Eric M. Anderson, Wayland X. Coleman, Sean "Truth" Evelyn, and Onyx White—alongside longtime justice advocate and creative director André de Quadros, stage director Jennifer Harrison Newman, and singer-songwriter/sound artist Justin Hicks, the challenges of living inside and outside of the prison system are vividly told through rich, compelling poetry, choral music, song, and rap. A large-scale version will tour to national performing arts centers while a second more intimate version will tour to incarceration facilities in cities where presentations occur.
Land Acknowledgement: I reside on the unceded territory of the Wampanoag and Massachusett people of Native Americans.
