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Celeste Jennings is a costume designer and playwright. Her dream projects evoke the past, present, and future and remind Black women that they are loved, that they’re soft, powerful, capable of resting, deserving of liberation, and that they are everything- that they always have been. Most recently, her play ‘Bov Water was produced at Northern Stage, and she developed her play, Contentious Woman, with PlayCo. Selected work includes Citrus (produced at Northern Stage), and Processing. Lately she collaborated with JAG in a designer workshop for Urinetown and worked as an assistant designer on The Notebook. She’s grateful to her community of friends, family, and mentors for encouraging and uplifting her work and is grateful for the journey ahead of learning and growing as a human being and artist.
Bov Water is a choreopoem that I wrote and designed. It’s a story about a lineage of Black women seeking and concealing their history. The opposing plights cause distress for all generations until they collectively learn, accept, and embrace that the exact history they have: unknown, forgotten, broken, and misremembered, is beautiful, is something to take pride in, and will always serve as an identity to love.
Celeste Jennings
Abigal Jean-Baptiste
Ashleigh King
Yvonne Miranda
Amina Alexander
Twi McCallum
Northern Stage
“I chose this unfinished musical as my thesis because, like the story, like Maytag, and like the understanding of my own family history that can be traced to Africa, I am unfinished. My design relies on her lyrics alone, and I’ve imagined musical feels for the story. I wanted to satisfy my desire of stretching my heart and soul back to ancestors that I can only fathom in my imagination though they obviously existed. I wanted to honor them. To thank them for the unfinished stories that allow me to work as an artist, I wanted to celebrate what it means to be unfinished.
Working on Alice Childress’ show has been an honor. It’s been moving to spend time in this world and to find ways to reconnect with my unknown, but not forgotten, ancestors. Designing Gullah has reminded my spirit of exactly why I’m an artist, and it has created an immense pride deep in my soul.”
Alice Childress
Eve’ Bayou is a beautiful screenplay by Kasi Lemmons about family, girlhood, mysticism, womanhood, truth, trust, secrets, and love, set during a hot Louisiana summer in 1962. The plot is about a young girl, Eve, that’s jealous of the affection her father has for her sister. Eve’s sister, Cicely lies and tells Eve that her father has abused his power to violate her, so Eve attempts to use voodoo to kill him. To Eve’s dismay and shock, her father soon dies, and she blames herself until she learns the truth. Lemmons created a piece or art that allows characters of color to live and breathe as we are and endure life as we make it, opposed to through the lens or fighting how other make it for us. My goal as the designer is to savor this rare opportunity, to breathe, to love, and to learn to let go. Life as a Black woman is an enduring, hard fight for basic rights and respect, but this story isn’t. I am in love with a project that allows me to rest easy, to paint the magical side of life I remember from childhood and examine the reality of womanhood from a lens of growth, secrets, spirituality, and family, not injustice and not racism- and I’m so thankful.
Kasi Lemmons
This play reminds me of couples creating comfortable lives with people they know aren’t their soulmates. The play reminds me of descendants uplifting cycles so devious, that untrained eyes greet them with content. It’s only alone, and possibly in the dead of night that the victims silently wail and confront the reality of their stagnant nightmare. The play reminds me of sweat, tears, blood, pumping hearts and sex to what end? Certainly not true love. So I wonder how I can take these facts and unearth agency. I want to harness the choice of happiness. I want to uplift the power in doing what you believe is best for yourself even if you also disagree. I want to celebrate the lives saved, the new life, the importance of human relationships, of honesty, self-love, and self-discovery. I especially want to uplift self-love and discovery; I believe it plays a huge role in the future of these characters and myself. We are so different, but not really.
William Shakespeare
Mark Wing Davey
Nadja Antic '22
NYU Tisch Grad Acting/Design
Atlas Theatre
Three women that form a family through blood, history and the pursuit of freedom endure life on the western frontier in the Black town of Nicodemus, Kansas. When their younger sister, Minnie, visits home after a long absence with her biracial husband, Frank, they all face the consequences his complicated relationship with his racial identity elicits. Without hesitation, the women and close friend, Wil Parish, act to quite literally stop Frank’s pursuits to protect their freedom, health, peace of mind, and legacy. I’m inspired to imagine a production of this hopeful, realistic, and rich play that recognizes the town as it was, and as it breaths and lives today. Life has evolved, but the spirit is the same, the ambition, the pride and even the stubbornness in Flyin’ West persist. The population is currently 5. I want each of the 5 characters in this play to represent their lineage, shed light on their lives, and honor their plight. The bloodline may discontinue one day, but the spirit of Sophie finally laughing, finally spinning with joy, and giving herself space to recognize her work, be proud of herself, and rest, won’t ever be stopped. Certainly not on my watch.
Pearl Cleage
