When Berkeley Repertory Theatre commissioned award-winning playwright Marcus Gardley for a play – he intended to tell a story about growing up in his native Oakland… not do a period piece set in Louisiana.
"A large portion of my family is from new Orleans... and I came across this period of 1830s and this social class called placees which were African American women who were concubines of white men' explains Gardley. "I thought this would be a great play because a lot of people do not know about this history… A lot of people do not know that African-American women were millionaires."
The House that will not Stand is the story of wealthy Creole widow… Beartrice Albans and her husband Lazare. Playwright Gardley manages to weave ghosts, voudou – even gumbo into his plot.
