Presented by the Programs in Creative Writing, Theater and Visual Arts.
B + M
The Bittersweet Ballad of Blessed (& Messiah)
by Silma Sierra Berrada
Special Notes
An accompanying art installation by Berrada is open to view from 12-6 p.m. on Saturday, February 19, in the CoLab at the Lewis Arts complex as part of her senior thesis in visual arts.
Please silence all electronic devices including cellular phones and watches, and refrain from text messaging for the duration of the performance.
Run Time
The show runs approximately 2 hours. There will be a 10-minute intermission, and the audience is encouraged to leave during the intermission.
Cast
Blessed: Jasmine M Rush
Messiah: Augustus Cook
Cast Bios
Jasmine M Rush (she/her/hers) is a Milwaukee bred, Brooklyn-based B L A C K actress, writer and director. Select credits include Off-Broadway in New York: As Much As I Can at Joe’s Pub/Public Theater. Regional credits include Queens Girl in the World at Hangar Theatre/Central Square Theatre; The Amen Corner with Shakespeare Theatre Company; Julius Caesar and Pericles at Academy for Classical Acting; School Girls… with TheatreSquared; KEYP-ING at New Repertory Theatre; Intimate Apparel at Sierra Rep Theatre; Barbecue and Saturday Night/Sunday Morning at Lyric Stage Company of Boston. Rush’ television credits include Bull, Blue Bloods, The Sinner, Difficult People. Rush is a company member of Quick Silver Theatre Company (NYC). She trained at STC’s Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University and earned an MFA in Classical Acting along with a BA in Theatre Arts from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Find her on instagram @jasminemrush
Augustus W. Cook II is an NYC-based Theater Maker, Cultural Producer, and Marketing Professional who has worked for The Public Theater, AFROPUNK, Disney, The Grammys, VOX and more. Whether he’s building marketing campaigns, producing, or developing a piece of theater, his purpose is simple: creating work that acknowledges and empowers people that live at the center of society’s peripheral view.
Production Team
Director: Nica Evans ’24
Set Designer: Nathalie Charles ’25
Lighting Designer: Isabella Hilditch ’22
Costume Designer: Nathalie Charles ’25
Stage Manager: Zaid Albarghouty ’23
Faculty Advisors
Shariffa Ali, Theater
Nathan Davis, Theater
Deana Lawson, Visual Arts
Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Creative Writing
Kenneth Tam, Visual Arts
Tamsen Wolff, English
Special Thanks
To
Oluwatobiloba Ajayi ’22
Veronica Barrios ’23
Alex Charles ’22
Hailey Colborn ’22
Tara Cubeisy ’22
Amina Elgamal ’22
Katie Goldman ’22
Nicolas Gregory ’22
Henry Herrington ’22
Hanying Jiang ’22
Makailyn Jones ’22
Katya Kopach ’22
Ronnie Kihonge ’22
Andres Larrieu ’23
Ricardo Salas Murillo ’22
Liora Nasi ’24
Nina Onyemeziem ’22
Kenny Peng ’22
Mwad Saleh ’22
Jazmine Smith ’22
Richard Yang ’22
Joseph Arnold
Alyse Delaney
Allie Geiger
Tess James
Minjae Kim
Orlando Murgado
Rick Pilaro
Matt Pilsner
Steven Rife
Nick Sharpe
Thank you all for being there for me. Truly, I don’t know what I would do without your help. From the trials-and-errors of paper folding to thinking of meanings of love to carrying car parts across campus to offering me a shoulder softer than Kleenex, I would not be able to make my craziest dreams a reality without each and every one of you. People like you come along once in a lifetime, so I’m beyond blessed to have all of your support. You generosity is the greatest love story. Words, just words, can’t ever say how grateful I am. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
To you.
Silma Sierra Berrada
Land Acknowledgement
An estimated 10 million Native Americans lived in North America before the arrival of European colonizers. Many thousands lived in Lenapehoking, the vast homeland of the Lenni-Lenape, who were the first inhabitants of what is now called eastern Pennsylvania and parts of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware.
Princeton stands on part of the ancient homeland and traditional territory of the Lenape people. In 1756, the College of New Jersey erected Nassau Hall with no recorded consultation with the Lenni-Lenape peoples.
Treaties and forced relocation dispersed Lenape-Delaware to Ohio, Kansas, and Oklahoma. We acknowledge the violence of settler colonialism and pay respect to Lenape peoples past, present, and future and their continuing presence in the homeland and throughout the Lenape diaspora.
Current Princeton student activists and alumni are advocating for Indigenous students and studies at the University. For more information, see the websites of Natives at Princeton and Princeton Indigenous Advocacy Coalition.
Lewis Center for the Arts
Interim Chair: Michael Cadden
Executive Director: Marion Friedman Young
Director of Program in Creative Writing: Jhumpa Lahiri
Director of Program in Theater: Jane Cox
Producing Artistic Director, Theater And Music Theater Season: Elena Araoz
Director of Program in Visual Arts: Jeff Whetstone
View a full list of Lewis Center for the Arts faculty »
For a look at all the people working behind the scenes to bring you this event, View a full list of LCA staff members »
The programs of the Peter B. Lewis Center for the Arts are made possible through the generous support of many alumni and other donors. View a full list of LCA Supporters »
