Produced by Tantrum Theater

Playwright: Jacqueline Lawton

Director: JaMeeka Holloway

Scenic Design: C. David Russell

Costume Design: Sabrina Bianca Guillaume

Lighting Design: Maddy Hebert

Sound Design: Sharath Patel

Music Director: Melissa Brobeck

Chorography: Travis Gatling

Wigs and Hair: Jerrilynn Lanier Duckworth

Technical Direction: Luis Silva

Lead Props: Duck Bracey

Stage Manager: Natalie Mathis

Edward and Mattie Berry, the only Black business owners in Athens, had established, by 1912, one of the finest hotels in Ohio.

The 2022 play was commissioned by Tantrum Theater to highlight this vital chapter of Black history in Athens. My aim was to recreate the grandeur of the Berry Hotel in this era. Using a historical fiction approach to the scenic design, I used the few extant images of the hotel alongside additional period details to create the immersive world of the Berry.

A turntable was employed center stage to bring us to the various sites within the hotel.

“The building’s history was erased through gentrification and general decline,” Lawton said. Thanks to the work of set designer C. David Russell, the local community will be able to imagine what it was like to enter the Berry. “When folks walk into that theater, they will feel like they are walking into the Berry,” Holloway said. “The opulence, the glamor, the authenticity and the care around detail.”

Athens County Independent .com, From an interview with playwright Jacqueline E. Lawton and director JaMeeka Halloway.