“If even one person walks away from this show seeing love differently—seeing us differently—then we’ve done something meaningful.”
What does it mean to step into the afterlife and greet late ancestors with love and remembrance—to reunite with your mother, beloved dog, and younger self? A year before passing away from cancer, Donna Nicole Booker told her niece, Arielle Julia Brown: “Tell my story.”
Booker – a Black trans woman, activist, faith worker, artist, and sex worker – contributed years of her life to helping and facilitating care work through social work in prisons, church choirs, and schools.
Arielle Brown was seventeen years old, a burgeoning playwright, when her aunt Donna commissioned her to create the project that would span the next two decades of her life. Her journey of raw art-making started in the Bay Area and spurred many iterations, performed at intimate gatherings for family in Waukegan, IL and workshopped for years. Eventually, it landed at Ninth Planet, an immersive experimental dance-theatre company that centers narratives of people of color, women, queer, and trans* people in Philadelphia.
At a time when the rights of trans-Americans are endangered, Fallawayinto is an urgent and powerful revelation for existence throughout generations. It is unapologetic love in its purest form, and its narrative offers a raw, heartfelt portrayal that challenges mainstream representations.
The play’s structure takes on various forms but is mostly interested in the folkloric study of remembrance. Through testimonials, poetry, spoken word, music, dance, multimedia installations, and lighting and set design, Donna’s spirit comes alive. The performers take us through memories of Booker’s life, speaking to the audience in fragments as her younger self (Nikki Edwards) and her older self (Janelle Luster).
“Our stories–me and Donna’s–are very parallel. I work that world. I know this community, and a lot of her story is familiar to me,” Luster described, reflecting on the challenges of authentic representation while feeling real emotions.
More than just a performance, Fallawayinto is a meditation and prophecy that seeks to teach and shape our understanding of possibility through the lens of our ancestors. As one of Nikki Edwards’ first productions, fate, and ancestry feel very present: “It feels like a stars-have-aligned type of moment, where I can tell a story about being Black and trans. The character of Nicole resonates so deeply with me.”
Through memories, Donna interacts with and reconciles with her mother (Pamela A. Hooks). Jakeya L. Sanders’s incredible voice guides the audience through the narrative’s transitions, while Donna’s dog and guide, Julius (Mawu Ama Ma’at Gora), commands attention with West African contemporary dance. Ma’at Gora is also the Co-Director of Movement for the production and Sanders is the composer, music director, and main musical performer. “I’m allowed to be my fullest self in the production and building of this work,” Ma’at Gora shares, reflecting the love and embodied commitment of the entire team.
When asked how she feels now that her work is out in the world being consumed and experienced by Philadelphia audiences, playwright Arielle says, “It feels like a whole being—it doesn’t feel like it’s becoming. It’s its own thing.”
After one of the final performances, I sat down with Arielle, the cast, and the creative team to ask them about sentiments of hope or encouragement they wish to tell the community and what keeps them coming back and makes this work worth it:
Nia Benjamin, Production & Project Director, Ninth Planet Co-Artistic Director: “We’ve been in this process for so long. It’s a moment for me to tell a story that is very much in contrast to the narrative that we hear a lot about Black trans women. This woman lived her life, demanded respect from the people around her, changed the lives of so many people, taught them how to love her, and was herself in every space she was in. She was just as faithful as she was challenging. Someone who people came to for help. I think about Donna, and I get very hopeful because she is one of many Donnas… It’s like when you try to stifle a flame. Sometimes, it just burns brighter and heavier and bigger because we’ll just continue.”
Arielle Julia Brown, Playwright, and Project Co-Conveiver: “I want to quote one of my teachers, Eric Ehn. He taught me that we are not with the dead; the dead are with us, right? They’re in solidarity with us because it’s a few of us and a lot of them, and my auntie… she’s just been making this shit happen! [laughs] I mean, we’ve been working, but she’s been making this happen… That’s something that gives me hope, honestly, spiritually. It’s a lot of people on our side who are on the side of spirit, ‘gon get us through. I have to believe that.”
Fallawayinto: Corridors of Rememory is a multi-modal project that uses live, mutli-media theatre, ritual, installation and communal gathering to invite Black queer and trans* Philadelphians, constructing a living sanctuary that unites audiences in collective celebration, mourning, and remembrance. Surrounding the world premiere of Arielle Julia Brown’s multimedia play, Fallawayinto, Ninth Planet presents a series of free community programs curated by and for Black trans women in association with FringeArts, with presenting partnership from the Painted Bride Art Center.
The show closed on February 1, 2025, but look out for more from Arielle Julia Brown, the cast of Fallawayinto, Fringe Arts, and the team behind Ninth Planet!
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