Take a remarkable trip back in time to witness this haunting story of climate change, migration, and family in the days leading up to a calamitous dust storm in 1930s Texas.
IT IS APRIL 1935 IN THE DUST-RIDDLED PLAINS OF TEXAS, and a family farm is struggling to keep afloat amidst a mounting series of ecological disasters. As Jesús, a farm worker with a secret, arrives in their midst, stubborn Pa refuses to believe his land is no longer viable, young Sunny dreams of a new life in bountiful California, and Ma has mysterious visions of the future. As everyone seeks respite from an increasingly uninhabitable environment, this powerful, atmospheric world premiere manifests a Dust Bowl beyond the familiar lore and viscerally confronts humanity’s disregard for nature in the days leading up to the infamous storm known as Black Sunday.
Black Sunday was developed through TimeLine’s Playwrights Collective—joining Brett Neveu’s To Catch a Fish (2018); Tyla Abercrumbie’s Relentless (2022, Jeff Award for Outstanding New Work); and Will Allan’s Campaigns, Inc. (2022) to become the fourth play developed through the Collective to receive a full production. Black Sunday received its first public readings as part of TimeLine’s First Draft Playwrights Collective Festival in December 2021.