On June 29, HB Residency Artist Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj presents waiting: a queer black tragicomedy in two acts, his project loosely and queerly inspired by Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.
About the Project:
waiting: a queer black tragicomedy in two acts is loosely and queerly inspired by Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. In waiting, drag queens, Chi-Chi and Cornbread, are trapped on the rooftop of the small drag club “Anal,” which is partially submerged under water. The club is in St. Bernard Parish, New Orleans during the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina late August after the levees break in 2005. Surrounded by a river of dirty water with trash, dead animals, bodies, and hungry gators, the two queens wait to be rescued.
Subsequently, a duplicitous prison guard from the Orleans Parish Prison, Kash-Money, along with his silent “assistant” Blues, floats down the river and pauses to converse with Chi-Chi and Cornbread. Kash-Money has used the hurricane to kidnap and imprison Blues. Kash poses to Chi-Chi and Cornbread an impossible choice, leading to a series of events that test each character’s morality, humanity, and spirituality.
Throughout the play, Chi-Chi is confronted by her inner-child, Zion, who wants to heal Chi-Chi from past childhood traumas. So continues a vexing cycle where the two friends debate life, faith, Blackness, queerness, the storm, and when or if they will be rescued, leading to a climactic ending.
About the Artist:
Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj is a multi-disciplinary American theater artist, administrator, and cultural activist who investigates the complexities of narrative, perception, identity, political, social, and community storytelling. His research-driven work explores BIPOC narratives that have been historically bypassed in the American Theatre and recuperates Black histories through documentary-based practices. He is an alumnus of the Art Equity BIPOC Leadership Circle in partnership with the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, member of the Metropolitan Opera / American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) DEI Council, a member of the Geva Theatre Engagement Committee, and currently on the Board of Directors for the National Queer Theatre. He is the former Associate Artistic Producer at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and the former Artistic Director of New Freedom Theatre and American Stage Theatre Company. He is the former Stage Director and Artistic / Community Consultant for the inaugural Opera Theatre of St. Louis New Works Collective in partnership with the Mellon Foundation and the Edward Jones Foundation. Mr. Maharaj is the Founder and former Director of Artistic Programming for the Voices at the River Biennial Latinx and African American Playwright’s Residency Program, in partnership with Arkansas Repertory Theatre and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. He is currently the Assistant Professor of Stage Direction (Musical Theatre & Theatre) at SUNY Geneseo.
As a storyteller, Mr. Maharaj has worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and at many of our nation’s top regional theaters, and he has been honored with numerous awards, including the prestigious Woodie King Jr. Award, four AUDELCO Awards, and many more. He has also been hailed as a New York Times Critics Pick.
