Now to Ashes, which played at the 2025 District Fringe Festival, is tour-de-force theater-making that breathes life into pivotal white and Black figures at the vanguard and intersection of abolitionist and feminist activism. Written and directed by Renae Erichsen-Teal and Sarah Pultz, it is at once riveting, poignant, and profound.
Four women are at the heart of the play. At the center of it all are abolitionist sisters Sarah “Sally” Moore Grimké and Angelina “Nina” Grimké, telling their origin story as defiant daughters in a white slaveholding family in the 17th and 18th centuries. Alongside them is Black abolitionist Sarah Mapps Douglas, instrumental in the creation and development of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. After Douglas met the Grimkés, she pushed for them to support women’s equality and changes to the Quakers’ original view that opposition to slavery should not be political. Anchoring the abolitionist past with the early civil rights movement is Angelina “Nana” Weld Grimke (the Grimkés’ niece), the Black poet, playwright, teacher, and writer of the early 20th century. Fascinating and complex characters all.
The play opens in the year 1956 with Angelina “Nana” Weld Grimke wondering when things will ever change. (We also see her throughout in youth.) It then hopscotches through time, each shift presenting a new vignette highlighting other characters or a significant event of the time, such as Douglas and the Grimkés’ meeting with William Lloyd Garrison, publisher of the Liberator magazine. It ends with Nana (in the present) as well, when she solemnly states, “I don’t think I can do it anymore.”
Hearing historical figures voice impassioned arguments defending and decrying slaveholding was eye-opening. The dramatized personal and political conversations laid bare the movement’s fissures that are not unlike contemporary disagreements about the direction of a cause. Moreover, the adamant demands from activists claiming their way forward was the only way through will resonate with anyone even remotely connected to direct action organizing around any issue and social justice advocacy. These vignettes also added action and momentum to more reflective parts of the production created by interspersing the readings of letters, speeches, and poems. (The poetry is Nana’s.)
Now to Ashes’ overall historical blueprint leads to three takeaways: revolution is always messy; freedom must never be taken for granted; and the path of progress is never a straight line. It also reveals the fault lines in any movement for change from the status quo. The inevitable fights over leadership. The tensions over the speed of actions or tactics to employ. The issue of money. The question of what to do when. And the ultimate: who’s inside the umbrella of care right now and who isn’t? The abolitionists fought over all of it.
Renae Erichsen-Teal and Sarah Pultz clearly conducted prodigious research to develop the play. For fun a few weeks ago, I started reading The Grimkes, by Kerri K. Greenidge. I’m still wading through it. One book is just a fraction of the material available to the playwrights. Their sculpting and sifting to present these key moments and turning points in abolitionism is an undeniable feat.
Speaking of fun, yes, this is a serious production, but it’s not a downer. It’s also entertaining with lighter moments too, like the marriage proposal scene.
Which brings me finally to mention the cast. If space permitted, I would want to call out individual appreciations for each of the cast of ten — many in multiple roles — but suffice it to say they were all spectacular.
Though some of the specific characters were imprecisely identified in the beginning (complicated by dual casting), I was sold on this show from start to finish. Now to Ashes is amazing and true to the 2025 District Fringe Festival motto. It’s uninhibited. It’s unafraid. And — I hope it’s unstoppable.
For more information about Now to Ashes, visit the website.
Now to Ashes
Historical drama by Renae Erichsen-Teal and Sarah Pultz
Running Time: Two hours and 30 minutes
Date and Time: Saturday, July 19, 2:00p
Venue: Phoenix – UDC Lecture Hall (44A03)
Tickets: $15
More Info and Tickets: Now to Ashes
Genre: Drama
Directed by: Renae Erichsen-Teal and Sarah Pultz
Playwright: Renae Erichsen-Teal and Sarah Pultz
Performed by:
Jam Donaldson as Angelina Weld Grimké (Present) and Grace Douglass
Madison Norwood as Young Angelina Weld Grimké and Margaretta Forten
Mikaela Fenn as Sarah Moore Grimké (Sally)
Alexandria Grigsby as Angelina Emily Grimké (Nina)
Amber Patrice Coleman as Sarah Mapps Douglass
Paul Brewster as John Grimké, Jonathan Evans, and William Lloyd Garrison
Allison Turkel as Polly Grimké and Catharine Beecher
Paulette Grady as Charlotte Forten
Ari Post as Israel Morris and Lewis Tappan
Max Johnson as Theodore Weld
The complete 2025 District Fringe Festival schedule is online website
The 2025 District Fringe Festival program is online here.
