CalArts’ Nataki Garrett Directs Bulrusher

Warren Davis (as Schoolch), Patrick Cragin (as Boy), Heidi James (as Madame), Joshua Wolf Coleman (as Logger), Bianca Lemaire (as Bulrusher), and Chauntae Pink (as Vera) star in Eisa Davis’ Bulrusher. | Photo: Ed Kreiger.

On Saturday (Aug. 23), Skylight Theatre Company and Lower Depth Theater Ensemble present the Los Angeles premiere of Eisa Davis’ play Bulrusher, directed by Associate Dean of the CalArts School of Theater Nataki Garrett. 

A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2007, Bulrusher tells a coming-of-age story sprinkled with Boontling, a poetic language spoken in the Northern California town of Boonville. Bulrusher is a multiracial orphan girl growing up in 1950s Boonville, a predominantly white town. The arrival of Vera, an African American girl from Alabama, awakens in her a new sense of history and of self.

Garrett writes about the play in an email:

Bulrusher makes me nostalgic for my Northern California roots as I recall playing on giant oaks, riding bareback and visiting the mighty Pacific Ocean during a couple summers in Boonville. It is every bit mysterious and bewitching as Eisa reveals in this timeless tale that uses the events of the early civil rights movement and the golden landscape of the sleepy town as the backdrop for a simply told, deeply felt story.

Bulrusher runs Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Sept. 28.

Director Nataki Garrett, Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble (LDTE) President Veralyn Jones, LDTE Co-founder Gregg T. Daniel and Skylight Theatre Company Artistic Director Gary Grossman discuss the ‘Bulrusher’ set design by Hana Sooyeon Kim. | Photo: Ed Kreiger.