MacArthur Award winner Martha Clarke teams up with Oscar, Tony, and Pulitzer Prize winner Alfred Uhry to bring the stirring Angel Reapers to the Joyce stage next month. Clarke describes the collaboration between the two artists as being like parsnips and chocolate, saying “In the beginning Alfred wrote an Alfred Uhry play which was linear and I worked in my wacko intuitive way. We began to develop something that was really interesting.”

Something really interesting, indeed! The collaboration between Clarke and Uhry began several years ago when Uhry suggested that Clarke read the biography of “Mother Ann” Lee, the founder of the Shaker Movement in America. Clarke found herself inspired by the “prophet” and her radical religious sect whose members were forbidden to marry or bear children and purged themselves of sin through spasmodic, spinning, vibrating motions.

Take a look at this Hartford Courant article for more on the collaboration and the inspiration behind the new work.

Angel Reapers opens November 29. Purchase tickets here.