The basis of SEVEN is inspired by three themes: the genealogy of six generations of first daughters, the genealogy of race and intellect and the process of revolutionary love. It was written as a series of poems that used the backdrop of history as a playground to wrestle with stories gathered from a predominantly female family. Most specifically, the concern was with how these ideas were performed and engrained in the everyday behaviors rising out of American culture. Seven asks, how did this family's ancestors and an-sisters come to the West? And how are these stories reflections of an ongoing struggle over racial identity? What's discovered along the way is both a terrifying and empowering place in a long line of women of color, who have longed for the American dream but were engaged in an ongoing human struggle against poverty, assault, addiction and in some ways, the choices of who to love and how to love them. After performing a trilogy of poems at Kennesaw State in 2007, SEVEN was toured a series of spoken word poems rooted in revolutionary love. In 2010, Director Segun Ojewuyi requested that poems be rewritten as an ensemble drama to be featured on "The Preemptive/SEVEN World Tour" produced by ZMirage MultiMedia Ltd. and GlobalNewHaven. The struggle between the terrifying and empowering self- realizations are reflected in the very different versions of SEVEN that have presented themselves along the way.
Seven and Seven