The first time I worked on this production at the beloved LAByrinth Theatre Company in 2013, many things were different. The times. The business of art. The political climate. Trayvon Martin had been killed, but to many it seemed like an anomaly. Mike Brown was still alive. Ferguson had yet to happen. Breonna Taylor and George Floyd were so far away that it almost feels like their deaths could be preventable, in a time traveling sort of way. The wave of police shootings (recorded) that shook this country into a new age of activism was waiting in the wings, having yet to debut.

But some other things were different. These being key to me:

1) It was only my second professionally produced play in NYC.

2) I was not yet a mother. Only a daughter.

3) My father was still alive.

This time around, as a mother and now a fatherless daughter, revisiting this play has shown me something about myself. About the activist shoulders that I stand on. About movements. That they are complex and most people can only understand the trauma from the side they are on, never from the assumed opposition. And that the wars waged on social justice advocates never comes with PTSD treatment and mental health restoration. They are fundamentally on their own.

My father believed in revolution so much that he espoused it on a daily. Our answering machine message would end with “long live the revolution." It took many years for me to understand what that meant to him. And then what it meant to me.

I borrow from my statement for my play Confederates, that played at Signature in 2022. This is what revolution means to me: “Freedom. Everyone’s freedom. Not the kind that comes on the back of other people’s oppression. Real freedom is contagious. In liberating yourself, you liberate others. Freedom is not comfort. Freedom is healthy disruption, positive growth, and peaceful existence.”

It is my desire as a playwright to keep building a pathway to my own freedom. And if others find their own freedom in the process, that’s an even sweeter dream.

In the words of my father, “Long live the revolution."

peaceandlovedominique:)

At the link below, you will find resources that will give you a closer look at the world of SUNSET BABY.

SUNSET BABY: A DEEPER DIVE

The Pershing Square Signature Center is situated on unceded traditional lands of the Munsee Lenape, the Canarsee, the Wequaesgeek and the Siwanoy. Our territory currently known as New Yorek City originates from the indigenous population that once inhabited the area of Manahatta and it'c collective five boroughs within Turtle Island.


To the region of Lower Manahatta we are indebted to the Canarsee whose Chief Seyseys , met with the Dutch. To the region of Upper Manahatta we give reverence to the Wequasgeek, whose territory encompassed the Bronx and whose Chief Meijeterma, met with Jonas Bronck.

Let this our Land Acknowledgement be the beginning of our return to unity, not just of each other but to the awareness that we are truly a part of the earth. Let us now walk with the knowledge that each and every one of us is a guardian of most importance, as we were put upon this Turtle Island not to seek dominion but as Care takers, as Two leggeds, to protect and to grow each other, to love and offer kindness. We are here to ensure that the gifts of earth, water, and air remain pure and whole, and so let us be guardians of the earth, the water, and the air, the 4 legged, fliers, the swimmers, the crawlers, the mammal people and the green. In this way we honor the land which gives us life, we honor the lives & culture forsaken, and we honor the prospect of renewed alliances.

Moreover, let this moment of recognition be a monument of action. Action that is fortified with a cooperative spirit and reverance for our traditional ways. Let it be the beginning of hope for this our Turtle Island in the land of the Munsee.

Let us now stand lifting our humanity, enrapturing with the earths conscious as guardians of harmony and kindness, as we pay respect to all of our ancestors and to future generations.

We are the Lenapehoking today, and will be for the remaining days of tomorrows...*Keepers of the Pass.

*This acknowledgement demonstrates our ongoing commitment as a community working to dismantle the continued legacies of colonialism, oppression, and systematic racism. We offer a pledge of Social Justice awakening, and education in order to raise the level of awareness and to ultimately strengthen the communal fabric which includes outreach with out indigenous neighbors. In this way, out collective voices can disrupt the patterns of social injustice through reverence of the Native People who share their land and by revitalizing Indigenous history through Indigenous specific programming.

Signed x Chief Dewaine Perry *Ramapugh-Lunaape; Munsee
Co-Signed x Oleana Whispering Dove; Author & Museum Docent
*EasternTsalagi/Algonquian descendant

01.30.24 - 03.10.24

Setting:

East NY, early 2000s

RUNNING TIME:
100 Minutes
with no intermission

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