Martha Clarke’s Angel Reapers
What do you get when you combine Pulitzer, Tony and Academy Award winning writer Alfred Uhry, MacArthur genius director/choreographer Martha Clarke, traditional Shaker music, and sexual repression? Angel Reapers is a lively song and dance piece, inspired by the life of Ann Lee, founder of the Shaker movement. Mother Ann, as she came to be known, was a visionary, mystic and powerful spiritual leader. Her categorical denial of sexuality and determination to erase it from herself and her followers inspires the stunning and rhythmic choreography in Angel Reapers. This multi-disciplinary piece is not biographical in the usual sense, but more loosely constructed, slipping in and out of reality and embracing Ann’s visions and those of her followers. The plot is woven throughout with movement, song and dance to bring to life this extraordinary 18th century woman and the singular world she created.
Notable for its mesmerizing qualities...ANGEL REAPERS is a beautifully wrought illustration of repression and freedom." —Durham News and Observer
Clarke and Uhry keep the balance between spiritual expression and sexual repression on a taut wire...The dancers are superb, and they can, and do, act. They also sing beautifully." —Classical Voice of North Carolina
Choreographer Martha Clarke and writer Alfred Uhry give us a wonderful sensation of Shaker life a smooth and unforced way to entertain and to tell a tale." —offoffoff.com