Queens of Sheba • Jessica L. Hagan - In partnership with Under the Radar

The four powerful Black women that form the beating heart of Jessica L. Hagan’s knowingly sharp and riotously funny choreopoem Queens of Sheba demand respect and, with every story told, they earn it. A spiritual successor to Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, Queens incisively calls out and lances the constellation of racist, sexist and colorist micro- and macro-aggressions that its characters encounter: the music and the misogyny, the dancing and the drinking, the women and, of course, the (white) men. Turned away from a nightclub for being “too Black”, the Queens navigate the minefields of misogynoir, seeking power among the songs of Tina Turner and Diana Ross and Aretha Franklin, finding elevation in sisterhood, sweet relief in the riot of laughter and the shedding of tears. Playful, intellectually rigorous, packed with righteous fury and genuine soul, Queens of Sheba is a unique meditation on Black Women’s identity, suffering and joy.