ArtsEmerson Presents: Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower

A genre-defying work of political theatre, Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower brings to rousing musical life Butler’s acclaimed science fiction novel of the same name. Written by Toshi Reagon, who Vibe Magazine called “one helluva rock’n’roller-coaster ride,” in collaboration with her mother, Bernice Johnson Reagon, the iconic singer and founder of the vocal group Sweet Honey in the Rock, Parable of the Sower becomes a mesmerizing theatrical work of rare power and beauty that reveals deep insights on gender, race and the future of human civilization. Parable of the Sower harnesses 200 years of African-American song traditions to tell the story of young Lauren Olamina, who lives in a not-so-distant America, where climate change has driven society to violence and the brink of extinction. When she loses both family and home, Lauren ventures out unprotected. What begins as a desperate flight for survival leads to something much more – a startling vision of human destiny which births “Earthseed,” a new faith based on the idea that “God is Change.”