Nat Turner in Jerusalem

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Liz Lauren

Gavin Lawrence in "Nat Turner in Jerusalem,."

Gavin Lawrence in "Nat Turner in Jerusalem," American Players Theatre, 2024.

Nat Turner famously led an uprising of the enslaved that was one of the sparks for the Civil War. In Nat Turner in Jerusalem, playwright Nathan Alan Davis draws from a document written by lawyer Thomas R. Gray from a conversation with Turner in his jail cell the night before he is to be executed in Jerusalem, Virginia. This serious, tense, still work should be in good hands with James DeVita and Gavin Lawrence. Read Jonathan Shipley's review here. Through Nov. 10; find the full schedule and tickets at americanplayers.org.

media release: merican Players Theatre (APT) will open the 9^th and final production of the 45^th season, Nat Turner in Jerusalem by Nathan Alan Davis. The play, which features Core Company members Gavin Lawrence (Nat Turner) and Jim DeVita (Thomas Gray/the Guard), is based on Thomas R. Gray’s “The Confessions of Nat Turner,” and focuses on the last night of Turner’s life during his incarceration for leading an 1831 uprising of enslaved people that has been credited by some with accelerating the onset of the Civil War. In Nathan Alan Davis’ play Turner's final night in jail is reimagined in a meditation on past deeds and future repercussions that The New York Times called “an earnest, gravely lyrical gloss on a document that will surely always evoke passionate and widely different responses.”

Nat Turner in Jerusalem will hold its second preview performance on Friday, October 18 at 7:00 PM, and its official opening night on Saturday, October 19 at 6:00 PM. The play will run in the 201-seat, indoor Touchstone Theatre through November 10. Visit americanplayers.org or call 608-588-2361 for tickets and information.

Artistic Director Brenda DeVita said of the production: “Nathan Alan Davis is a wonderful, poetic playwright. And we are thrilled to bring this meditation on faith and race and responsibility to the Touchstone this fall. He writes beautifully about some very ugly historical events - the fallout that is rendered is utterly devastating. What happens when one’s autonomy and family and hope is violently taken from them? Gavin Lawrence and Jim DeVita are playing Nat Turner and Thomas Gray, respectively. These two actors on stage together is an electric experience. They are incredibly diligent about authenticity and committed to language - faithful to the playwright and his words. And when you put them head-to-head, facing off in these complex stories, they make it very easy to see truths and shed light on the intricacies and the humanity of these people. It’s just a brilliant ending to our 45th season.”