Box office: 020 7978 7040
Theatre503 presents
The Great Privation is about Grave Robbing: Grave Robbing during the early 1800’s. Grave Robbing during the Cholera outbreak. Grave Robbing in Pennsylvania. Robbing of Black bodies for medical research. Black bodies that were commodified even after death. Black bodies that never got their rest.
In early 1800’s Pennsylvania, a mother and daughter keep vigil at a grave. Today, at a Summer Camp on the same grounds, a new, yet not entirely different mother and daughter navigate a new, yet not entirely different landscape. Alongside them, two distinct male figures move in and out of both sets of lives, threatening to unearth dark truths – or to help create them. As timelines collide and secrets and lives become buried and revealed, a reckoning comes calling to them all: the roots to our ancestors are not as long as we may think.
2023 Theatre503 International Playwriting Award Finalist The Great Privation (How to flip ten cents into a dollar) is a stunning, profound play exploring the historical disruption of black bodies at rest, and the deep impact still felt today. Nia Akilah Robinson’s beautiful and haunting debut play, directed by Theatre503 Carne Associate Director Kalungi Ssebandeke, captures humour and joy amongst the darkest moments, and asks us all to reflect deeply on who we once might have been.
Running time: 95 minutes (no interval)
Age guidance: 14+
Content Warnings: This show contains themes that some audience members may find distressing. If this sounds like it could apply to you, you can view the content information by clicking the hyperlink.
Please note this show contains the use of haze and strobe lighting.
15 May 7.30pm WRITERS NIGHT: A chance for writers to enjoy a discounted ticket and meet our literary department and the writer of the show. Attendees to Writers Night are invited to submit for our Rapid Write Response initiative. To unlock a £8 ticket, email boxoffice@theatre503.com to be digitally tagged as a writer. If you have previously been tagged as a writer, your ticket will automatically adjust to £8 on the final page of booking – you do not need a Promo Code. On Writers Night, there will be a Q&A with the literary department and writer of the show between 6:50pm-7:20pm. If you are unable to attend our Writers Night, the £8 Writers tickets will also be available up until Saturday 18th May.
22 May 7:30pm & 25 May 2:30pm PAY WHAT YOU CHOOSE: These are our two Pay What You Choose performances, where tickets start from £6. Please note, unlike previous seasons, the final Saturday of the run is no longer a Pay What You Choose performance.
29 May 12pm PARENT & BABY: Provided as an opportunity for parents and/or guardians to enjoy a spot of theatre without the need to hire a babysitter. Please note, we do not exclude other audience members from booking to see this performance.
31 May 7:30pm FILMED PERFORMANCE: This performance will be recorded for archival purposes, if you have any questions please call our Box Office or email boxoffice@theatre503.com.
Nia Akilah Robinson
Nia Akilah Robinson (she/her) is a playwright and actor who reps Harlem with all her might. She is a graduating second-year playwright in the Juilliard School’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program. Her work has been seen and developed with Steppenwolf Theatre, The Hearth, The New Group, Theatre503 (UK), The Ground Floor: Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Great Plains Theatre Conference, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Waterwell, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Urbanite, and New Georges. She has been a MacDowell Fellow, Travis Bogard Eugene O'Neill Foundation Fellow, and a writer for PEN America and EST/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (short play). Nia has had residencies at NYSAF and The Pocantico Center through YoungArts. Nia’s work will be featured in the 2024 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival, 2024 The Fire This Time Festival, was featured in the 2023 SPACE JAM @ Roundabout Theatre, and the 48th Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival. She participated in the National Black Theatre Soul Series and received the 2023 Film & TV Mentorship by Mitzi Miller. She has been awarded 1st Place for the 2023 A is For Playwriting Contest, the Next Wave Initiative Lorraine Hansberry Writing Scholarship, a Miranda Family Fund Commission, and the NYSCA Grant (CCCADI). She is shortlisted for the 2023 Theatre503 International Playwriting Award. She was a finalist for the Audible Commission, the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, and the Blue Ink Playwriting Award. She is a member or alumna of Ensemble Studio Theatre's Youngblood, I-73 at Page 73, The Orchard Project NYCGreenhouse, The Wish Collective, and TheBlackHERthePen. She is proudly represented by Alex Gold at Creative Artists Agency.
There are currently no news articles for this show!
