Playwright, performer and composer Alva Rogers is deeply versed in the uses of enchantment, drawing inspiration for her plays from the Surrealist painters and magic realist writers. Dramaturg Christine Sumption calls Rogers “a visionary playwright whose rich poetic language and kaleidoscopic theatrical aesthetic challenges audiences to reexamine their understanding of what theatre can be and do.”
Rogers, a Lucas Literary Arts Fellow, has been in residence at the Lucas Artists Programs twice in the last year, and will return in August. In the brilliant morning light on the patio of her LAP studio, Rogers’ days begin with the rich life of the forest ten feet from her door, and its daily surprises: one morning, quail. Another morning, rabbits. In the quiet, she lets the noise of New York city fall away. “It’s been wonderful, a wonderful unfolding. With each day I feel a little deeper, I hear more, and I’m seeing and I’m figuring.” Then Rogers goes inside to her desk, which is strewn with the memorabilia that creates a sense of home as she travels. She sits down and opens her computer and begins to conjure the voices that animate her plays—portals on new worlds.
“Enchantment leads to joy…it prepares us for all that life will bring and lay at your feet.”
I n this video by Pierce Leggin, Rogers speaks from her LAP studio about her artistic influences, where she finds inspiration, and how she spends her time in residence at the LAP.
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Listen to This Radio Play of Alva Rogers’ Work Aunt Aida’s Hand , Produced for National Public Radio:
Aunt Aida’s Hand (1989) by Alva Rogers, with playwright, journalist, and author Lisa Jones. Stories about two black women trying to piece together family legends and their cultural history. Neither women have mothers. And since the history of women is largely passed down by women, they must seek out other female relatives. Aunt Aida lives on a farm in North Carolina and is struggling to hold onto her house — the repository of her family history—though day by day she is losing her memory. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO.
Note: The Uses of Enchantment by Bruce Bettelheim