Evening-length live performance in development — stay tuned!
Explore the 1739 Stono slave rebellion through the voices of more-than-human participants. While typically depicted as a failed insurrection, STONO asks: Is there another story? To find answers, audiences are guided to commune with ancestors, water, mycelia, drums, fire, and more. Combining music, spoken text, and movement, STONO imagines a more expansive and surprising story about that fateful event, a space in which revolution extends beyond racial politics, human temporality, and material space.
Listen to demo excerpts from STONO
Performers:
T. Carlis Roberts - voice, synths, percussion, mandolin, guitar
Rafael Maya - drums, electronic percussion
Safiya Fredericks - voice
Kristen Mitchell - voice, hot water bottle
Development History
2026 — Control Group Productions HOME Studio residency & workshop
2025 — UNTITLED Musical Writers Group cohort
2025 — University of Denver, workshop
2024 — New Harmony Project residency
2024 — Start the Wave grant
2023 — Start the Wave grant
2022 — Slave Dwelling Project conference: The Stono Rebellion and the Atlantic World (Charleston, SC)
2022 — KGNU radio (Denver/Boulder, CO)
2022 — Destination Freedom podcast via the Broadway Podcast Network (online) — Listen
2022 — National Queer Arts Festival — View program | Watch video featuring post-show Q&A
2021 — Orchard Project Audio Lab residency
Co-commissioned by No Credits Productions, LLC for Destination Freedom and Queer Cultural Center for the National Queer Arts Festival. A co-production of No Credits Productions, LLC and Queer Cultural Center.
