Anne L. Thompson-Scretching’s A Lesson in Blood Returns to the ATA at a Pivotal
Moment in Time 

The saying “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” as
attributed to philosopher George Santayana, is oft quoted for a reason. 

A Lesson in Blood, from the powerful pen of the prolific Anne L. Thompson-Scretching,
premiered at the ATA in 2011 and won best play at the Jean Dalrymple Awards. It’s the
first play in the Blood Trilogy, which also comprises A Long Way from Home and Home
Is Sweet Sorrow. In 2025, this work is more important than ever in its exploration of
racism and the exposing of those who cling to the absurd notion of white supremacy. It
is observed that people of color are “allowed” to go about their lives so as long as they
“stay in their place,” and the Klan is always lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce at
the slightest hint of rebellion—real or imagined. Authority figures justify their prejudice
through their twisting of the words of the Bible, insisting it is the will of God that white
people are superior, and that people of different races must never mix.

This puts Osceola Red Feather (Rommell Sermons) in a dangerous situation. A
Cherokee Indian man of color, he is living in the Jim Crow-era Georgia of the 1940s with
his “Aunt Lucy” Dix (Joy Foster) and his brother Calvin (Kevin Leonard). Osceola had
been secretly seeing Aggie Peters (Serena Profaci), the white daughter of repellent
Klansman Nathan (David Ezell). Aggie returns to the south, and to Osceola, after seven
years, with devastating revelations that will have consequences for him and everyone
else—including Johnny Ray Dobbs (Ronan Schwarz), the town’s sheriff who also
desires Aggie.

When we first see Johnny Ray, he appears amiable enough, visiting with Aunt Lucy and
partaking in her chicken dinner. It’s explained that he and Osceola were friends in
childhood who still go fishing together. But as circumstances unfold, the darkness within
him becomes all-too evident. When Osceola’s current partner Clara Henderson
(Natasha Sahs) learns of Aggie’s relationship with him, she threatens to expose the
situation, putting everyone in danger and setting events in motion towards violence and
tragedy. There is a grisly murder, and its circumstances and perpetrator are a mystery,
but the supremacists in power are quick—and perhaps even thrilled—to put the blame
on a person of color.

As the town reels from this horror, Johnny Ray abuses his authority by getting Osceola
dismissed from his job with Noah Cohen (Alan Hasnas), a Jewish lawyer. Cohen
reluctantly complies but remains an ally to Osceola, and tries to overcome his fears to
combat the racism around him, haunted by memories of his own family’s deaths in the

Holocaust. Aunt Lucy and Calvin stand by Osceola, even as tensions rise among them
and they look to answers in the traditions of mysticism they grew up with. Lucy is aware
that Osceola and Calvin are the last of the line and will do anything to protect
them—from prejudice, and from themselves.

A Lesson in Blood is beautifully directed by Tippi, who has steered many of Thompson-
Stretching’s productions. Expert lighting and sound design by Joe Coppola and Liam
Rordan respectively complement a fantastic set, that of Lucy’s old house, which takes
us right back to the Georgian summer of 1946. The writing pulls no punches in exposing
the racism of the era—a racism that we know very well was never fully extinguished.
The scene of Nathan asking Lucy for water, but insisting she pour it in his hand because
he won’t drink from her glass, is nearly as chilling as the moments of violence and
spoken hatred that surround it.

The cast is unified in its expert realization of the text; one fully believes in the history
among the characters and the desperation and injustice of the moment they find
themselves in. In a time when prejudice and ignorance threaten to overwhelm once
again, A Lesson in Blood is a crucial work that is not to be missed. 

A Lesson in Blood is performed at the American Theatre of Actors through March 30,
2025.