BLOOD
SISTERS
Cast: 6 Run Time: 120 Minutes
These four best friends have followed the rules most of their lives; good grades, excelling in athletics, and being responsible at home. Now, seniors in high school and set to face “the real world” they find themselves wondering why the rules only seem to apply to them. And why is their punishment harsher than everyone else's? Fed up with things the way they are, these besties decide to do things their own way; even if it means breaking the law, disobeying the adults in their lives or causing a little bloodshed. Join the crazy ride of curiosity, adventure, love, and friendship in Blood Sisters.
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What’s next for Blood Sisters?
Following the initial play reading of "Blood Sisters," the next steps involve seeking an artistic home to further develop the work with a collaborative team. This includes engaging a director, dramaturg, and other artistic supports who can provide invaluable perspectives and expertise. The aim is to refine the play while ensuring it resonates with its intended audiences. Additionally, efforts will be made to connect with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to position "Blood Sisters" as an educational resource. The play's contemporary relevance, focus on political and social issues, and exploration of the emotional complexity of young characters make it an ideal piece for Black students to engage with and perform, providing them with a meaningful and age-appropriate theatrical experience.
PLAYWRIGHT'S NOTE
The play is influenced and guided by Jamila Woods album "HEAVN" and the track "Black Girl
Soldiers". In this self-affirming album, she accounts for the experiences that helped define her
Black girl identity.
Listen here:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lpJYHHJLOrF0hxKFdR802l
n2apkC3GFxU&feature=share
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CONTEXT
This play is an exploration of how respectability politics impede and interfere with Black girls'
pursuit of freedom. I asked myself, when did I learn, as Malcolm X once professed,
“The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most
unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in
America is the Black woman.”
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And the answer scared me. The answer was that I’d been taught that at every turn of my life. IN
my study of history, in wisdom from my elders, and harshly in my own life experiences.
Learning the ways and history of my oppression as a Black woman, was an integral
understanding in me learning how to navigate and win in a system that in many ways was not
built for me success let alone survival.
I’ve spent 15 years teaching Black girls how to navigate that system as a mentor, educator, and
advocate. And now, I realize I should have asked them to teach me how to destroy that very
system. I begged them to show me how to burn that bitch down and not look back. This is for
them.
This play is a protest to the adultification of Black girls and a love letter to their bravery at the
same time.
https://www.blendedandblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/girlhood-interrupted.pdf
-Black girls are often on the receiving end of comments and rules built to respond to their
normalized sexual objectification and labeled “fast”, “hoochie” or similar terms that are
culturally specific in their reference to Black girls.
-Black girls are second to Indigenous girls in the statistics of missing and exploited children in
America. They often never get the public attention that white girls receive; often leaving them
never searched for or found.
The tens of thousands of Black women and girls who are missing include abductees, sex trafficking victims,
and runaways. Black women and girls exist at the intersection of racism and sexism, and quite often
poverty. They (Black women and girls) are uniquely vulnerable and too easily erased from public
discussions about the alarming trend of missing people. For far too many Black girls, marginalization is
ever-present.
"The urgent crisis of missing Black women and girls"
FEBRUARY 20, 2020
-Black girls are more likely to be suspended or expelled in school for the same infractions their
white counterparts receive a warning for the same offense.
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/preschool-prison-criminalization-black-girls/
-Black girls and women are less likely to be believed and have their concerns and allegations
investigated. Ask *Meg thee Stallion.
**Because of/and for Relisha Rudd
DRAMATURGY
This play explores the historical stereotypes that have been used to measure and oppress Black
womxn.
Three dominant paradigms of Black femininity that originated in the South
during the period of slavery have persisted into present-day culture, which
“paint Black females as hypersexual, boisterous, aggressive, and
unscrupulous”26:
• Sapphire (e.g., emasculating, loud, aggressive, angry, stubborn, and
unfeminine);
• Jezebel (e.g., hypersexualized, seductive and exploiter of men’s
weaknesses); and
• Mammy (e.g., self-sacrificing, nurturing, loving, asexual).
These images and historical stereotypes of Black women have real-life
consequences for Black girls today. According to Blake and colleagues,
“these stereotypes underlie the implicit bias that shapes many [adult’s]
view of Black females [as] ... sexually promiscuous, hedonistic, and in
need of socialization.”
For example, “teachers may subconsciously use stereotypical images of
Black females ... to interpret Black girls’ behaviors and respond more
harshly to Black girls who display behaviors that do not align with
traditional standards of femininity in which girls are expected to be docile,
diffident, and selfless.” Such “tainted perceptions ... result in patterns of
discipline intended to re-form the femininity of African-American girls into
something more ‘acceptable.
Girlhood Interrupted:
The Erasure of Black
Girls’ Childhood
Black girl handgames: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/01/racialized-
versions-of-i-like-coffee-i.html
