Created by award-winning theater ensembles ArtSpot Productions and Mondo Bizarro, Cry You One is an unforgettable look at the interconnectedness of land and culture in Louisiana. Part song, part story, part procession for our lost land, Cry You One celebrates the people and cultures of South Louisiana while turning clear eyes on the challenges we face.
Cry You One premiered in St Bernard Parish in 2013, on the edges of the Central Wetlands a half-hour’s drive downriver from New Orleans. In that expansive geography of native and non-native plants, brackish water both salt and fresh, of healthy cypress and salt-burned matchsticks, we built Cry You One from the multiple perspectives of our ensemble artists, and invited more: the bones of our own ancestors, and of those who lived in that place before us; the bones of the plants, the animals, the soil, the water, the air and the pipelines in that site that chose us.
In the years since, as we’ve performed versions of Cry You One in parts of America far from the place where it was born, we’ve tried to maintain and embody that awareness of our environment. The land is going quickly, the sea is rising daily; how long do we fight, and when do we fly? What responsibility do we have to the land, and how will we fulfill that responsibility? In Cry You One, we listen to the land, we move in it, and—much as we sing to comfort a newborn fighting sleep, or an elder who is not long for this world—we sing to it.
Cry You One is a project of Creative Capital and was made possible by major support from the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; by the MAP Fund, a program of Creative Capital supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; by a grant from the Network of Ensemble Theater’s Touring & Exchange Network (NET/TEN); by the Alternate ROOTS Community/Artist Partnership Program (C/APP), with funding provided by the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, the Joan Mitchell Foundation and the generous support of ROOTS members and friends; and by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council, as administered through the Arts Council of New Orleans. Additional support was provided by the Kindle Project of the Common Counsel Foundation, the Quixote Foundation, and by the Catalyst Initiative of the Center for Performance and Civic Practice. Additional support for this production was provided by Gulf Restoration Network, Working Films, the Chorus Foundation, the Puffin Foundation, the Meraux Foundation, the City of New Orleans Office of Resilience and Sustainability, and by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Premiere engagement
Central Wetlands
St Bernard Parish, Louisiana
October 24-November 23, 2013
Walton Art Center’s Artosphere Festival
(Concert + Site Visit)
Fayetteville, Arkansas
May 29-June 1, 2014
International Festival of Arts & Ideas
(Concert, Site-Visit and Idea Forum)
New Haven, Connecticut
June 15-18, 2014
Clear Creek Festival:
Land, Water, Food, Stories (Full Show)
Berea, Kentucky
July 31-August 1, 2014
Presented by Sandglass Theater and
Vermont Performance Laboratory
(Full Show)
Guilford, Vermont
September 20-21, 2014
University of Houston
Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts
CounterCurrent Festival
(Full Show)
Houston, Texas
April 17-19, 2015
International Festival of Arts & Ideas
(Full Show)
New Haven, Connecticut
June 13-21, 2015
International Sonoran Desert Alliance
(Processional Concert)
Ajo, Arizona
March 24, 2017
John Michael Kohler Arts Center
(Processional Concert)
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
June 8-10, 2017
Mirabeau Water Garden (Full Show)
1200 Mirabeau Ave
New Orleans, Louisiana
October 19-22, 2017
Nišville Jazz Theater Festival
(Processional Concert)
Bali-Bey Mosque, Nis Fortress
Niš, Serbia
August 5, 2018
Director Kathy Randels
Performers William Bowling, Hannah Pepper-Cunningham, Lisa Shattuck, Nick Slie, Monique Verdin and Zohar Israel
Designers Jeff Becker, Melisa Cardona & Jayeesha Dutta
Music Director Sean LaRocca
Writers Raymond “Moose” Jackson & Joanna Russo
Choreographer Millicent Johnnie
Costumes Bear Hebert & Laura Sirkin-Brown
Photography Monique Verdin & Melisa Cardona
Past Cast Members Jonathan Greene, Rebecca Mwase & Pamela D Roberts
Additional Performers Ausettua AmorAmenkum, Badarinwa Rolland, Emma Randels-LaRocca
Additional Musicians Bruce Daigrepont, Jonno Frishberg, Floyd Gray III, Tyrone Henry, Forest Huval, Solomon Mason, Derrick Moss, Manny Perkins, Cecile Savage
"Pairs discussion of environmental issues and government policy with music and theatre to serve as a catalyst for constructive discussion."
—Jessica Forbes, In Weekly (2017)
"The music carries the beauty and heartbreak [...], and connects the participants of Cry You One with their best scene partner—the land itself."
—David Bruin, HowlRound (2015)
"Participants leaned toward the importance of somehow bridging past traditions, present needs and human connections with a safer path forward that still sustains cultural heritage."
—Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, Times-Picayune (2014)
"A powerful and frightening act of witnessing."
—Anna Hartnell, Times Higher Education (2013)
"This is a show designed to be a different experience for everyone."
—Will Coviello, Gambit Weekly (2013)
"Make no mistake, Cry You One is an enormous project."
—Philip Yiannopoulos, NOLA Defender (2013)