Black History Month is here, and Wounded Healers takes the Andreas Theatre stage to represent the generational trauma of racism, and offer ways of healing through the arts. Watch the video for a detailed look into the connection you can experience from the show, from the voices of director Dr. Timothy Berry and student-actor Lyreshia Ghostlon-Green. Wounded Healers will run from Jan. 27 through Feb. 6. Purchase tickets.

The Art of Healing

Trauma is not spontaneous, it happens through specifics, and Wounded Healers will play at the MNSU stage to dive into the specific nature of racism on black bodies throughout time. Writer and director Dr. Timothy Berry says the blatant racism in our society needs to be discussed openly.

Berry said, “So we tend to gloss over things and make them more palatable than they really are when it comes to racism… It’s almost like we describe it in more nicer terms than what it actually is, so I don’t do that.”

Lyreshia Ghostlon-Green said, “As much as there is pain and sorrow, there’s also healing and bonding.”

Every word and phrase in Wounded Healers is a snippet from a piece of history, which allows the cast to bond with past generational experiences.

Ghostlon-Green said, “I learned that I say this phrase, and at first I thought it was just a sentence. Then, I look on the shelf behind me on our set, and it’s the title of a book.”

Berry said, “And these books are on the shelf. And so the actors now are grabbing the books off the shelf, saying, ‘oh, this is the book I’m referencing in my story.’ Like, yeah!”

The show analyzes how racism structurally and societally traumatized African Americans throughout generations, through laws with language and outcomes that discriminated. At the same time, the show offers ways to heal such traumas.

Berry said, “One of the very first things you see is how songs became a part of the resistance.”

Ghostlon-Green said, “Historically, a lot of our healing has been through dance and music and expressing ourselves that way- and it’s very evident in Wounded Healers.”

Wounded Healers is a unique type of art. The piece will offer a one-on-one connection with the cast and audience.

Berry said, “I wanted to have talk-backs, so the audience can actually discuss together.”

Ghostlon-Green said, “I’m hoping that the audience feels the impulse to join in. If we say something, and you’re like ‘yes, that is so right,’ I hope someone is like, ‘exactly.'”

The piece is a living creation, with tweaks and added information to update current and past affairs.

Berry said, “Because the things that we have going on right now are not new, that’s what I want more people to understand… So, I reference throughout the time, and I actually give historical names of the people that this happened to, all the way up through George Floyd.”

Throughout the rehearsal process, the cast has been able to bond and celebrate their success for monumentally changing MNSU theatre.

Ghostlon-Green said, “How often do you think we’re going to see a cast of only African Americans at MNSU? Like, that’s not gonna happen every year.”

Berry said, “This is not easy to do in a lot of ways for actors to do something like this. And yet, they are just giving everything and I’m looking so forward to when we open.”

Wounded Healers runs from Jan. 27 through Feb. 6 at the Andreas Theatre. You can buy tickets online or in-person.