Every Tongue Confess

In the backwater town of Boligee, Alabama, the summer heat is rising higher, driving the townsfolk to distraction and conjuring the spirits of the past to walk the earth. Wrapped in the combustible music of a Deep South juke joint and the sweat-soaked gospel of a revivalist church tent, intergenerational stories of loss and redemption collide. Based upon biblical stories and events in the town’s history, Every Tongue Confess awakes a fiery theatrical furnace in which some will be saved, some will be purged, and the truth cannot escape.

Autumn Hurlbert & Phylicia Rashad in the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater production. Photo by Joan Marcus.
E. Roger Mitchell, Crystal Fox & Eugene Lee in the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater production.
The company in the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater production. Photo by Joan Marcus.
Autumn Hurlbert & Jim Ireland in the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater production. Photo by Joan Marcus.
Cast Requirements

4 men
4 women

Production and Development History

Commissioned: Arena Stage.

Produced: Arena Stage (November 2010), directed by Kenny Leon.