Performance Dates
Thursday, June 16, 7 - 9:30 pm
Friday, June 17, 7 - 9:30 pm
Saturday, June 18, 2 - 4:30 pm
Saturday, June 18, 7 - 9:30 pm
Ebony Road Players will perform Sheepdog (Kevin Artigue) at the Grand Rapids Art Museum on June 16, 17, and 18, 2022. Each performance will be followed up with a community dialogue around race, policing and mental health. This performance continues Ebony Road Players’ tradition of Loving Day events. Loving Day is celebrated each year on June 12 in cities throughout the country in observance of the 1967 Supreme Court case of Loving vs Virginia, which struck down laws criminalizing interracial marriage.
This one-act play follows Amina and Ryan, both officers on the Cleveland police force. Amina is black, Ryan is white, and they are falling deeply in love. When an officer-involved shooting roils the department, small cracks in their relationship widen into a chasm of confusion and self-doubt. A mystery and a love story with high stakes and no easy answers, Sheepdog fearlessly examines police violence, interracial love, and class in the 21st century.
“Ebony Road Players is dedicated to providing a theatrical platform for education, social justice and theatre art in West Michigan. Sheepdog fits all three areas through our yearly programming around the West Michigan Loving Day Celebration. The play takes a close look at how policing and race affects one’s outlook when involved in an interracial relationship.” Edye Evans Hyde (Ebony Road Players Founder/Executive Director).
“The Grand Rapids Art Museum is pleased to partner with Ebony Road Players in their production of Sheepdog, commemorating Loving Day in West Michigan,” commented GRAM Director of Advancement Elly Barnette-Dawson. “Since 2014, Ebony Road Players has provided our community with high-quality productions, centered on the Black experience, and we’re united in our belief in the power of art to help us better understand the world around us and nurture important conversations around race and social justice."
Tickets are available at www.ebonyroad.org/productions
Grand Rapids Art Museum is located at 101 Monroe Center St. NW Grand Rapids, MI 49503
About Ebony Road Players
Ebony Road Players is a Grand Rapids theatre company whose mission is to inspire, educate and engage cultures of our community with high-quality theatre productions focused on the Black experience.
About the Grand Rapids Art Museum
Connecting people through art, creativity, and design. Established in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids, the art museum is internationally known for its distinguished design and LEED® Gold certified status. Established in 1910 as the Grand Rapids Art Association, GRAM has grown to include more than 6,000 works of art, including American and European 19th and 20th-century painting and sculpture and more than 3,000 works on paper. Embracing the city’s legacy as a leading center of design and manufacturing, GRAM has a growing collection in the area of design and modern craft. For hours and admission fees, visit artmuseumgr.org.
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