Goreé Island is a small, off-shore parcel of land that rests in the bay of Dakar, Senegal. It is the place where Africans were forcibly detained in dungeons prior to being packed into ships for the dehumanizing Middle Passage journey to the West Indies and Central America during the 19th century slave trade.
This production, set in the deep South in 1918, tells the story of Chap Clayborn, a black, smug, socially alienated, high-stepping Music Hall Coon-Song-Singing-Vaudevillian from New York who finds himself stranded in Goreé Crossing. He is compelled to stay amidst the unfamiliar rural setting with its haunting tales of racial despair while trying to earn fare for a return trip home. As he navigates his return, Chap finds himself trying desperately to come to grips with the contradictions of his southern roots and urban self-image.
The original score, by Olu Dara, employs Gospel, Blues, military and funeral marching bands, ragtime and music hall, which all connect to a common source in the Black Church.