Sony Lab’ou Tansi’s Parentheses of Blood is a darkly humorous satire set in a country with a brutal and authoritarian government, with a growing and threatening rebellion. On orders from the Capitol, soldiers set out to arrest and kill rebel leader, Libertashio. The only problem is that Libertashio is already dead! But that does not stop the Capitol and its minions from trying as they terrorize the citizens and Libertashio’s family. Deeply funny, this absurdist postcolonial farce from the Congo too readily reflects our own nation’s problems: where rumor betters facts and rebellion looms from many sides.

Content Notice: Parentheses of Blood deals with state-sponsored violence and moments of physical touch.

Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe is an award-winning director, actor and writer. Edris has directed at SF Playhouse, Exit Theatre, SF Mime Troupe, Z Space, Word for Word, Magic Theatre Trinity Rep, Magic Theatre, TheatreWorks, WaterTower Theatre/Dallas, Mark Taper Forum, Southern Rep/New Orleans and Alabama Shakespeare. Edris has acted with the SF Mime Troupe, Aurora Theatre, SF Playhouse, Art Theatre Ibadan, Nigeria and for 11 years was a lead artist for Rhodessa Jones’s The Medea Project; Theatre for Incarcerated Women. Edris’s solo performances have been seen at Northwestern University, Penn Museum, University of Illinois, University of Florida, San Francisco’s Afro Solo Festival, Intersection for the Arts, Eastside Alliance and Brava Theater where she is a resident artist. Her play, Adventures of A Black Girl In Search of Academic Clarity and Inclusion is published in the anthology solo/black/women. In addition to her own company, Edris is a member of Campo Santo and Word for Word theater companies. Photo by Joan Osato.