The Department of Performing and Media Arts and the Toni Morrison Collective are thrilled to present Toni Morrison’s 2011 work DESDEMONA to honor the 30th anniversary of her Nobel Prize. PMA's production of DESDEMONA, facilitated by Associate Professor Beth Milles, features student performers onstage interwoven by music and song composed specifically for this show and performed by internationally-acclaimed Malian singer Rokia Traoré, in a dynamic event that captures the words, music, and transformative power of love.
Due to circumstances beyond our control. Rokia Traoré will not be able to appear in person, but will participate through video and recorded music for this production.
Originally created in 2011 by Toni Morrison in collaboration with director Peter Sellars and singer-songwriter and activist Rokia Traoré, DESDEMONA is a poetic and intimate response to Shakespeare's OTHELLO. Morrison's work weaves dialogue, music, and song into a complex exploration of Shakespeare's famous and historically challenging work. Centering of the ill-fated character of Desdemona and her African nurse Barbary, Morrison's play exists in the imaginary space of the afterlife, interrogating the pain and trauma of race, gender, and class as well as the healing process and possibility of forgiveness across generations, locations, and characters.
October 27th & 28th 7:30 p.m. Kiplinger Theatre, Get tickets
A talkback will follow Saturday's performance.
The event is co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost, Performing and Media Arts, Africana Studies, Music, Literatures in English, American Studies, Romance Studies, Toni Morrison Collective, Institute for African Development.
The project has been awarded a Humanities Impact Grant and a grant from the Cornell Council for the Arts.
This event is part of “Freedom of Expression”
Content warning: Sexual abuse, violence, racism
Read ‘Desdemona’ celebrates Morrison’s Nobel Prize anniversary from Cornell Chronicle.
Listen to a PMA Podcast "Episode 48: Desdemona by Toni Morrison."
See related events below:
Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023 at 3:00 p.m. - Toni Morrison Song Cycles: CU Music at Barnes Hall
Friday, Oct. 27, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. - Join Quill Guild, Cornell’s creative writing club, at Goldwin Smith G19 for a workshop centered on the writing advice of Toni Morrison, as documented in her interviews. This workshop commemorates the 30th anniversary of Morrison’s Nobel Prize and in association with the production of her play, Desdemona, directed by Professor Beth Milles. Come to learn about Morrison’s approach to craft and refine your own!
