Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Program Presents Soul Tapes

Providence, RI: The Brown University/Trinity Repertory Company MFA Programs in Acting and Directing present the brand-new play Soul Tapes, written by directing student JaMario Stills, adapted from Will Johnson's lecture “The Soul Tapes of Black Folks.” Directed by Stills, this production runs from November 10 through 20 at the Pell Chafee Performance Center on 87 Empire St. in Providence. General admission is $15 with discounted prices for seniors and students. Tickets will go on sale soon and can be purchased at Trinity Rep’s ticket office, by phone at (401) 351-4242, or online at www.trinityrep.com/soultapes  

About The Play 
In 2105, soul musician Taji and filmmaker Siya bond over their shared love of vintage media: cassette tapes, film reels, and the public access television show “Beautiful Black Brilliance,” featuring a record store owner named Genesis Jones. But when Taji and Siya’s relationship is challenged by a tempting celestial force, Genesis, a sage and ancestor, guides them through a series of surprising revelations that help illuminate their path. Soul Tapes explores the challenges of when shared visions are tested by individual pursuits.

“Soul Tapes has been revealing itself to me since we started working on it this summer,” director JaMario Stills said. “The piece has called for a leap into imagining Black life 100 years into the future. Mixing digital and musical composition into a theatrical narrative has been an enlightening experience for us.”

Cast And Creative Team 
JaMario Stills (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist and producer from Jacksonville, Florida. He received his BFA in acting from The Juilliard School and studied screenwriting and scenography at the Rhode Island School of Design He is currently an MFA in Directing candidate (‘23) at Brown University/Trinity Rep. As a professional actor he has performed at The McCarter Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and The Brooklyn Academy of Music. Stills has directed at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville as year-long resident artist, and as a performance curator for Art Republic. His work as a creative entrepreneur has been featured in Innovate Jax.

Stills will serve as Soul Tapes’s director, co-writer, and costume designer, working alongside Will Johnson (music composer, and video imagery designer), Sara Ossana (scenographer and creative producer), Ebony Burton (lighting designer), Anne Drummond (sound designer), SeifAllah Salotto-Cristobal (projection designer), and Lisa Biggs and Cloteal Horne (dramaturgs). The cast of this production includes Stills and Johnson as well as Brown/Trinity Rep actor JaQuan Malik Jones and guest artist Angelique Dina.

The Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs provide a three-year professional training program under the auspices of an Ivy League university and Rhode Island’s Tony Award-winning theater company. Brown University’s Department of Theater and Performance Studies is internationally recognized for the quality of its faculty and instruction. Trinity Rep, with its deep tradition of resident artists, provides powerful artistic assets and creates a firm foundation for a new generation of theater artists.