About the show

Written by Garlia Cornelia
Directed by Gary Anderson

Guest artist Gary Anderson, a 2016 Kresge Artist Fellow and Artistic Director of Detroit’s Plowshares Theatre Company, directs the premiere work of acclaimed playwright, Garlia Cornelia. Pingree’s Past is a brand new play set in contemporary Detroit.

In Garlia Cornelia’s own words

Pingree’s Past is the working title of this new play that I wrote during my two-week residency at Popps Packing in Hamtramck, MI during the summer of 2018. I’m a Detroit native and have been spending more and more time there over the last two years, taking in what has been going on with the city’s re-growth, who is responsible and who gains the most from the new developments in the city. During the summer of 2017, I wrote an essay that appeared on www.salon.com.

The new story of Detroit is living within me and while I had a different play mapped out to write during the Popps Packing residency, what became “Pingree’s Past” flowed out of me. I had one reading of the play at the end of the two-week residency and another reading of the play on September 21st. Through development, I hope to dive deeper into the story and the familial relationship and financial struggles that are at the core of the work.