The Reapers On Woodbrook Avenue

by Mardee Bennett

Winner of the 2022 Blue Ink Award
Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference Finalist
Seven Devils Playwrights Conference Finalist

During America's bicentennial celebration, three generations of Black women—steadfast grandmother Loretta Reaper, her spitfire daughter Nell, and pragmatic teenage granddaughter Tamar—share a modest rowhome on Woodbrook Avenue. Bound by blood but burdened by generational wounds, they...

Winner of the 2022 Blue Ink Award
Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference Finalist
Seven Devils Playwrights Conference Finalist

During America's bicentennial celebration, three generations of Black women—steadfast grandmother Loretta Reaper, her spitfire daughter Nell, and pragmatic teenage granddaughter Tamar—share a modest rowhome on Woodbrook Avenue. Bound by blood but burdened by generational wounds, they navigate their place in a rapidly changing world. As the women prepare to sojourn to South Carolina for a funeral, tensions flare over respectability politics and a legacy of familial silence.

How does grief move through bloodlines? And who are the reapers—those who harvest pain, or those who sow change?

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The Reapers On Woodbrook Avenue

Recommended by

  • Emma Goldman-Sherman: The Reapers On Woodbrook Avenue by Mardee Bennett
    “

    I really enjoyed the scope of this play and the characters and all their striving. The multi-generations moving from 1976 to this century in three different times touching on several timely issues felt historical and also mythic yet Bennett keeps the play grounded in American Naturalism. Well done.

    I really enjoyed the scope of this play and the characters and all their striving. The multi-generations moving from 1976 to this century in three different times touching on several timely issues felt historical and also mythic yet Bennett keeps the play grounded in American Naturalism. Well done.

    ”
  • Eugene O'Neill Theater Center: The Reapers On Woodbrook Avenue by Mardee Bennett
    “

    It is the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's pleasure to recommend Mardee Bennett and their play The Reapers On Woodbrook Avenue as a finalist for our 2016 National Playwrights Conference. The play rose through a competitive, anonymous, multileveled selection process that took nearly nine months to execute. As one of 54 finalists out of more than 1,450 submissions, the strength of its writing has allowed this work to prosper in such a competitive selection process. Our readers especially appreciated the deft ear for dialogue and admired the ambition and scope of this work.

    It is the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's pleasure to recommend Mardee Bennett and their play The Reapers On Woodbrook Avenue as a finalist for our 2016 National Playwrights Conference. The play rose through a competitive, anonymous, multileveled selection process that took nearly nine months to execute. As one of 54 finalists out of more than 1,450 submissions, the strength of its writing has allowed this work to prosper in such a competitive selection process. Our readers especially appreciated the deft ear for dialogue and admired the ambition and scope of this work.

    ”

Character Information

  • Loretta Reaper
    50s
    African American/Black
    Cis female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      40s,
      50s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Black, African, Caribbean, or African American
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • Nell Reaper
    30s
    African American/Black
    Cis female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      30s,
      40s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Black, African, Caribbean, or African American
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • Tamar Reaper
    16
    African American/Black
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      Teens,
      20s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Black, African, Caribbean, or African American
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • Ronald Johnson
    19
    African American/Black
    Assigned male at birth
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Black, African, Caribbean, or African American
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male
  • Corey Reaper Johnson
    22
    African American/Black
    Assigned male at birth
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Black, African, Caribbean, or African American
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male
  • Rex
    60s
    White
    Male
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      60s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      White
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male

Development History

  • Workshop, Signature Theatre, 2018
  • Workshop, Signature Theatre SigWorks - Arlington, VA, 2017

Awards

  • Prince Grace Awards Playwriting Fellowship
    New Dramatists
    Semi-Finalist
  • Seven Devils Playwrights Conference
    Finalist
  • Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center National Playwrights Conference
    Finalist