Axes, Herbs and Satchels
March 5 @ 7:30 pm
The Visiting Artists Series invites you to attend axes, herbs and satchels on March 5 in Ball Theater at 7:30 p.m. Reserve free tickets today!
The Visiting Artists Series presents The Anthropologists, a NYC-based, female-led, investigative theater company and the premiere tour of their devised play axes, herbs and satchels. The tour begins in Jersey City at Art House on February 19 and 20, followed by stops in Delray Beach at Arts Garage on February 23, and Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana on March 5. The show will return to New York City in Spring 2025 with performances in the Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The Anthropologists’ Artistic Director Melissa Moschitto and co-director Sandie Luna helm the ensemble of Black women and non-binary artists who shine a light on the suppressed history of Black midwives, doulas, and birthing bodies. “axes, herbs and satchels” travels across generations with storytelling, movement, southern spirituals, and ritual. “axes, herbs and satchels” is an act of reparative history, offering audiences a space for communal learning, reckoning, and healing.
“axes, herbs and satchels” was developed through extensive ethnographic research, primary sources and personal accounts to create a stunning new investigative theater piece which celebrates the traditional knowledge held in the Black birth worker community and potently examines maternal mortality. The research and development of this play was supported in part by a partnership with the American Anthropological Association, who established the first anthropologist-in-residence with the company. In 2023, the company collaborated with Dr. Haile Eshe Cole; the current anthropologist-in-residence is Nadia N. Mbonde.
Free tickets are at https://www.wabash.edu/boxoffice/event.cfm?eventd_id=215