A Burning Church Project
A Blade of Grass Fellows for Socially Engaged Art
2020 Fellow

Director Alex Hare, writer/director Zhailon Levingston, and composer Nehemiah Luckett are embarking on the Burning Church Project, a traveling developmental series supporting the creation of their new musical A Burning Church. The show depicts moments in the life of a Baptist church in Alabama over the last four decades, aiming to ask questions about the radical potential of the contemporary church in the United States. The project engages with a sector of American society that is often seen as entrenched in conservative politics, and seeks to develop dialogues with church-goers about Christianity’s relationship to capitalism, sexuality, police violence, and more. The artists were chosen for their proposal to visit three churches in the U.S. and perform segments of the play, inviting feedback from the audiences and initiating discussions with congregants and community-members. The project culminates in a theatrical run in NYC, which will incorporate the dialogues the artists had with church-goers around the country.


