A Pyramid on the Mississippi - Black Artist Development Retreat

Pyramid Theatre Company will be partnering with Grand View University to host our first Black Development Retreat here in Des Moines.

Together, we will create a space for select Black artists to devise a script tentatively titled: A Pyramid on the Mississippi (APOTM).

We’re creating  space for a select group of Black artists to devise a new play through collaboration,  physical expression, improvisation, and community engagement. The totality of the  experience will generate the foundation for a future script tentatively titled A Pyramid  on the Mississippi (APOTM). Each participant in this retreat will be credited as a co-creator. 

This year’s play is a new myth for a new age. A Pyramid on the Mississippi is a  celebration of Blackness in its achievement, complexity, and struggle. Set in Memphis,  Tennessee, audiences will be transported to the cotton capitol nested on the edge of  the rushing river—just a few steps from the balcony where Martin Luther King was  slain. 

APOTM will be developed over a year with a hand-picked ensemble of actors called The  Paradigm Ensemble.

The process will begin this summer with a three-week artist  development retreat supported by Producer Charles IV, and Pyramid Theatre Company.

The retreat will include daily meditations, improvisation, body/brain exercises, a  physical movement workshop, breathing exercises, research and active devising through  use of prompts.