An Octoroon is a new play by acclaimed playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, engaging with the controversial mid-19th century melodrama, The Octoroon, by the Irish-American playwright Dion Boucicault.  The original play raised the hackles of southern and northern audiences on the even of the Civil War, depicting an interracial love affair between a master and a slave.  Jacobs-Jenkins produces a hilarious and disturbing whirlwind of a play, examining both the antebellum South and our present day American selves.

The program at the East Side Freedom Library is being presented by Project SUCCESS, a nonprofit organization that uses theater as a tool to inspire audiences-as-learners and to help us look at the real-life issues we face.  Actor and singer Thomasina Petrus will facilitate the discussion, and she will present parts of the script, along with Penumbra Theatre actor Austene Van and Guthrie Theater/University of Minnesota BFA graduate, JuCoby Johnson.  An Octoroon will be fully staged at Mixed Blood Theater in Minneapolis.