High John the Conqueror an African Folktale
with Nina Domingue
Wednesday April 7th from 7-8:30pm on zoom
High John the Conqueror is a figure who appears in many folktales in the African American Hoodoo tradition, sometimes a trickster, liberator, prophet and King. High John is revered as the spirit of Black Liberation from both societal and intrapersonal oppression. Some of the most famous High John Tales were recorded by Zora Neale Hurston and Frederick Douglass wrote in his biography about using a High John root given to him by a traditional rootworker to assist in his escape from the famously brutal plantation owner where he lived and worked.
We will be joined by a storyteller who will tell us the story which we will then explore from a Jungian perspective
Nina Domingue is a New Orleans native who is currently based in Cleveland. She is a part of Cleveland Public Theater’s Premier Fellowship Cohort for the 2020-2021 season. Her solo show The Absolutely Amazing and True Adventures of Miss Joan Southgate has been included on The Kilroy’s List 2020. She a Barbara Smith Playwright in Residence at Twelve Literary Arts and the Nord Family Foundation Playwriting Fellow and Catapult Artist at Cleveland Public Theatre during the 2019-2020 theatrical season. Her solo show Ya Mama! (dir: Nathan Henry) launched its tour at the Hollywood Fringe Festival and a run at Cleveland Public Theatre this past fall. Credits include: Paradise Blue (Justin Emeka, Karamu House), Revolt, She Said. Revolt, Again (Sarah E. Wansley, Dobama), Medea At 6 (Ensemble Theatre), It Hasn’t Always Been This Way by Ntozake Shange (Off Broadway, Diane McIntyre). Critics say that Nina is “...a young Anna Deavere Smith” and watching her is “like a master class in acting." Nina is a wife and mother of five, her greatest work to date.