Anyone who has taken a DNA test knows the depth of history the body can unlock. For African Americans, however, genealogy is often a fraught process full of preventable loss and anonymity. Luckily, the body holds space for both memories and dreams, so when the only proof a great-great-great-grandmother existed is a bill of sale, imagination can reveal the person behind the numbers.
Furlough’s Paradise, the award-winning play by a.k. payne, explores the legacy of slavery: its evolution into the modern-day prison system and its lasting effect on Black families. This epic journey takes place in a single room, specifically on a couch with a pull-out bed. In this show, produced by Theater Alliance and directed by Autumn Angelettie, the intimate becomes expansive as cousins Mina (Renea S. Brown) and Sade (Hillary Jones) grieve together during Sade’s three-day furlough from prison for her mother’s funeral.
The title of the play alludes to the theme of dissonance at its core. Sade and Mina serve as foils, each embodying one of two opposing ideologies for Black liberation. Mina has learned to “make white people comfortable” to share in their opportunities, a key aspect of respectability politics. Sade represents the desire for an exodus from white society, envisioning a haven for Black girls everywhere. They differ in everything from manner of speaking to wardrobe. Like the gold paint streaks on the set’s aquamarine walls, Mina’s eloquence, silver jewelry, and French manicure contrast with Sade’s accent, headwraps, and bare fingernails.
Sade dreams of utopia while in prison. Mina, grounded by a long-term relationship and financial stability, dreams of becoming air. Their shared longing to rise above the bleak reality of racism in America unfolds through surreal sequences choreographed by Sandra Holloway. In one such scene, Mina shakes hands with unseen demons while Sade strikes at invisible antagonizers, each cousin trapped within her own nightmare. Brown expertly depicted Mina’s practiced gratitude and hidden agony — lips contorting into a forced smile, steely gaze glazing over. As for Jones, she threw punches with skilled fluidity, slipping into a panicked flail while maintaining the illusion of resistance, as if fighting water.
Together, the women take flight, arms arching and concaving like African mourning doves caught in slow motion. The dissonance dissolves in these moments of synchronicity. My favorite was a thoughtful mirroring in body language as the cousins talked on the bed. They sat cross-legged, opposite knees tilted inward like parentheses enclosing a shared secret. This harmony through symmetry extended beyond the choreography. Lighting designer Alberto Segarra and projections designer Luis Garcia used the silhouettes of Mina and Sade to orchestrate light and shadow, shape and negative space, finding visual balance as, narratively, the cousins reached an understanding.
Director Autumn Angelettie worked closely with playwright a.k. payne to create the “fertile ground” needed for the raw vulnerability Furlough’s Paradise demands of its actors. Brown and Jones rose to the challenge, delivering potent performances so fully inhabited that every emotion appeared authentic. Their faces, hands, even the curling or stretching of their toes were used to convey joy, frustration, heartbreak, and all the feelings family evokes in us. Sade’s free spirit, undiminished by her bondage, came alive in Hillary Jones. It was as if all barriers between the real and the imagined had been broken; so uninhibited was Jones’s rendering of Sade’s grief that her tears kept falling as both actors received a standing ovation.
As I watched the interplay of artistic forms that is Furlough’s Paradise, I recalled the pre-show conversation with Angelettie and payne, moderated by Theater Alliance’s executive artistic director, Shanara Gabrielle.
“Storytelling in its original form was all the forms together,” said payne, expressing their desire to “circle back” to the intrinsically accessible nature of art by utilizing language, sound, visuals, even touch and taste.
Angelettie agreed, explaining that there are no “creative silos” in her directing process: “If you are in the room, you get to contribute to the piece.” Furlough’s Paradise is an abolitionist work not only in subject but in form. In the glory of its limitless expression, we’re reminded of the power of imagination: the systems that enslave us were once only thoughts in wicked minds. To free ourselves, we must first imagine ourselves free.
Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission
Furlough’s Paradise plays through November 23, 2025, presented by Theater Alliance performing at The Westerly, 340 Maple Drive SW, Washington, DC. Purchase tickets ($45 for general admission; $30 for seniors and military; $20 for students) online. Theater Alliance also offers pay-what-you-can tickets for those with financial barriers, starting at $5 and available for online purchase.
View the downloadable digital program here.
Furlough’s Paradise
Playwright: a.k. payne
Director: Autumn Angelettie
CAST
Mina: Renea S. Brown
Sade: Hillary Jones
CREATIVE TEAM
Stage Manager: Regina Vitale
Assistant Stage Manager: Jay Dews
Scenic Design: Shartoya Jn. Baptiste
Costume Design: Cidney Forkpah
Lighting Design: Alberto Segarra
Sound Design: Matthew M. Nielson
Props Design: Isabel deCarvalho
Projections Design: Luis Garcia
Assistant Lighting Designer: Trinity Joseph
Choreographer: Sandra Holloway
Lighting Supervisor: Elijah Thomas
Assistant Sound Designer: Chelsea Pillerman
Wardrobe Supervisor: Rakell Foye
