THE HOLE by Zhailon Levingston

About four years ago, I was sitting in a college drama class and had just finished reading the Tennessee Williams play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,  for the first time. I fell in love with the play about the rich "lies and liars" living on the family plantation, but thought that the biggest lie of all was that the family earned any of their wealth themselves. I felt that the voices missing from the story, which largely centers around the family estate, were those of black and brown people forced to work and build the plantation in the first place! 

So in a quest to examine some of the messy and controversial themes of the play through  the perspective of black folk in America, I decided to write a play that took place on a contemporary plantation. The prison industrial complex!

THE HOLE explores the relationship and personal struggles of two inmates in solitary confinement as experienced through their illusions, memories, dreams, nightmares, and delusions. A loose riff on Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, this play explores what happens when the walls of prison rub up against the walls of identity and how forbidden love can be a violent thing. 

My play will be presented by Brooklyn based theatre company, The TEAM, this Summer as part of the New Ohio Ice Factory Festival for a workshop run of August 1-4! I couldn't be more excited that I actually get to see my writing realized! 

With all of that said, I NEED YOUR HELP to make this dream a reality. I need to raise $10,000 in production cost by June 20th! 

Every donation, large or small, gets my team and I closer to fulfilling a dream of mine and creating a powerful week of theatre in NYC!