'Citrus' explores the experience of being a black woman

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt. (AP) — When veteran theater director JaMeeka Holloway-Burrell first saw the script of a new play by Dartmouth College student Celeste Jennings exploring the experiences of African-American women, she was stunned.

“This play is fire,” Holloway-Burrell said. “I just felt really set ablaze by the material, specifically the prologue when she says, ‘Remember when you were born? When your knees rasp against hard floors and you bend your brain backward to focus on God? Do you ever think of what your breathing lungs mean?’

“That was just so striking to me, and I still get very emotional around that part of the text, because visually I see that moment, I know what that moment in life was for me. … I remember having multiple moments like that throughout my childhood and adulthood.”

Northern Stage will present the world premiere production of “Citrus,” directed by Holloway-Burrell and featuring a cast of nine women, Feb. 26-March 15 at the Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction.

Jennings wrote “Citrus” as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, where she developed it as her senior fellowship project. In 2019, “Citrus” was a favorite at Northern Stage’s New Works Now new play festival, so much so that Producing Artistic Director Carol Dunne chose it for the 2019-20 main-stage season.

“‘Citrus’ is so heartbreakingly beautiful and poetic,” Dunne said, “that I felt it had to be a part of this season, in the spring, when we need hope and beauty the most.”

Written in the form of a choreopoem — combining poetry, dance, music and song — “Citrus” intricately weaves together stories of black women throughout American history to create an intimate portrait of resilience and humanity. Inspired by the stories of those close to her and from history,...