McCarter Live at the Library: Bulrusher

Thursday, August 24, 2023 @ 7:00pm

Princeton Public Library - Community Room
65 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ 08540

Join McCarter Theatre and Princeton Public Library for a free behind-the-scenes conversation about the mysterious and compelling season opener, Bulrusher by Eisa Davis. Associate Artistic Director Nicole A. Watson will be joined by Dramaturg Faye M. Price and Sound Designer Kate Marvin to share the joys and challenges of mounting this unique coming-of-age story, which is set in 1955 in the rural California town of Booneville and features the historical coded language of its residents called Boontling. Watson will also talk about her research road trip to Mendocino County and discuss the choices she and her design team made to create the world of the play, including its immersive visual and aural landscapes. The conversation will be moderated by McCarter Artistic Engagement Manager Paula Alekson and will include a Q&A with the audience.

No RSVP or ticket is required to attend this in-person event; it is free and open to the public. The Princeton Public Library is located at 65 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ; the Community Room is on the first floor adjacent to the café. 

About Bulrusher

In 1955, in the redwood country north of San Francisco, a multiracial girl grows up in a predominantly white town whose residents pepper their speech with the historical dialect of Boontling. Found floating in a basket on the river as an infant, Bulrusher is an orphan with a gift for clairvoyance that makes her feel like a stranger even around those who think they know her best: the taciturn schoolteacher who adopted her, the madam who runs her brothel with a fierce discipline, the logger with a zest for horses and women, and the guitar-slinging boy who is after Bulrusher's heart. Just when she thought her world might close in on her, she discovers an entirely new sense of self when a Black girl from Alabama comes to town.

This is a Princeton Public Library and McCarter community partnership event.

About Live at the Library

A McCarter and Princeton Public Library community partnership series, Live at the Library provides behind-the-scenes access for theatre-lovers, and the theatre-curious, to engage in conversation with local and visiting artists and gain insight into McCarter’s curated season of produced and presented events.