

# Event Details

- **Event Name**: AUDITIONS: 'cullud wattah' Michigan  Premiere
- **Event Start and End Date**: Sat, 07 Feb, 2026 at 12:00 pm – Sat, 07 Feb, 2026 at 03:00 pm
- **Event Description**: cullud wattah by Erika Dickerson-Despenza
Direction by Demetria Thomas

Auditions: Saturday, February 7 and Sunday, February 8 from noon-3pm. If you are unavailable at one of the listed days/times, please email us at info@atgr.org and we'll make accommodations for a video audition submission.
Location: Spectrum Theater at 160 Fountain NE
Callbacks: Sunday, February 15
Rehearsals: Will begin Monday, March 29. Rehearsals are generally weekday evenings for a 3-hour period of time between 6-10pm. If any weekend rehearsals are needed to accommodate cast availability, those would be scheduled for specific times that work for the team.
Performance Dates: May 7-9, 14-16 at 7:30; May 10 at 3pm

Audition Requirements: A perusal script is available at https://atgr.org/get-involved/auditions/cullud-wattah/
Audition sides will be posted as soon as available but auditionees should be familiar with the story and the character arcs. Although sides do not need to be memorized, auditionees should prepare/be very familiar with them.

Audition Format: The directing team will be seeing folks on a first-come, first-served basis. Auditionees will be reading monologues from the script. Group scenes will be worked at the later callback.

Characters: 
All roles are open to individuals of all abilities, body sizes, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic statuses. Trans, nonbinary, and genderqueer actors highly encouraged to audition. 

Plum: 9. Arithmetically sharp African American girl. Curious, intuitive, and wise. She is blue-blk-like a plum.

Marion: 34. A robust cinnamon-colored African American woman worn from caretaking. She is responsible, pragmatic, and status quo. A third-generation engine assembly line worker at General Motors. A widow. Plum and Reesee's mama.

Reesee: 17. A queer, brass African American young woman, devotee of Yemoja. Deeply curious about the spiritual nature of healing. A dancer and aspiring doula. 

Big Ma: 60s. An elegant presence. A stern but deeply loving African American woman. The widowed matriarch of the Cooper family - but only in title. A Mississippi migrant with the south in her mouth; she often talks in pictures. Rooted in Blk Southern Baptist aesthetic that she finds herself queering.

Ainee: 37. A 34 weeks pregnant African American woman the color of pulled taffy. Addiction survivor. Frank, humorous, and slick-mouthed. A straight shooter. Fiercely maternal. The family historian and rebel interested in building political power. Marion's older sister.

 
Synopsis:
It’s been 936 days since Flint has had clean water. Marion, a third generation General Motors employee, is consumed by layoffs at the engine plant. When her sister, Ainee, seeks justice and restitution for lead poisoning, her actions reveal the toxic entanglements between the city and its most powerful industry, forcing their family to confront the cost of survival. As lead seeps into their home and their bodies, corrosive memories and secrets rise among them. Will this family ever be able to filter out the truth? cullud wattah is a haunting, lyrical, and unflinching portrait of the strength, resilience, and generational power of Black women in the face of environmental and systemic injustice.
*Michigan Premiere*
Winner of 6 prestigious awards including the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 

About the Director:
Demetria Thomas earned a BA at Grand Valley State University, and her MFA from the University of Houston Professional Actor Training Program. Regional credits include Eunice in A Streetcar Named Desire at American Players Theatre, Chicken and Biscuits at Farmers Alley, Doubt at New Stage Theater, Mistress Page in Merry Wives of Windsor at Michigan Shakespeare Festival, Beatrice in Much Ado about Nothing and Gertrude in Hamlet both at Houston Shakespeare Festival. Television credits include guest appearances on Chicago Fire (NBC Universal) and as a series regular on APB (Fox TV). Directing credits include Our Lady of 121st Street at the University of Houston, Cadillac Crew at Ebony Road Players, as well as Boeing Boeing and Figaro at Hope Repertory. Demetria currently serves as Assistant Professor in Acting &amp; Directing at GVSU.
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/grand-rapids/auditions-cullud-wattah-michigan-premiere/200029633214305
- **Event Categories**: art, theatre, festivals, workshops
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 18

## Ticket Details

- **Ticket URL**: http://facebook.com/200029633214305?utm_source=AllEvents.in&utm_medium=event-discovery-platform&utm_campaign=grand+rapids-events

## Event venue details

- **city**: Grand Rapids
- **state**: MI
- **country**: United States
- **location**: 160 Fountain St NE, Grand Rapids, MI, United States, Michigan 49503
- **lat**: 42.96507
- **long**: -85.66394
- **full address**: 160 Fountain St NE, Grand Rapids, MI, United States, Michigan 49503

## Event Organizer details

- **affiliate_id**: 2
- **organizer**: Actors' Theatre Grand Rapids (https://allevents.in/org/actors-theatre-grand-rapids/966208)

## Event gallery

- **Alt text**: banner
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events4/banners/c033ed82cc1833dfe4f2fa589671d7be06c88b0e130cde06dcbd0ab7e6dfcd0c-rimg-w1200-h628-dcf3f1d9-gmir?v=1770408544
- **Alt text**: thumbnail
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events4/banners/cae9515ed81b0d22c2c037d9953a2a606ff72eaefb3177c5bfc313a8646ff832-rimg-w300-h300-dc5b3712-gmir?v=1770408545

## FAQs

- **Q**: When is the event happening?
  - **A:** Sat, 07 Feb, 2026 at 12:00 pm
- **Q**: Where is the event happening?
  - **A:** 160 Fountain St NE, Grand Rapids, MI, United States, Michigan 49503
- **Q**: Who is organizing the event?
  - **A:** Actors' Theatre Grand Rapids
- **Q**: What type of event is this?
  - **A:** art, theatre, festivals, workshops
- **Q**: Where can I find ticket details about AUDITIONS: 'cullud wattah' Michigan  Premiere ?
  - **A:** You can find ticket details about this event on AllEvents.

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