About This Show

After a one-day trial in 1945, an all-white male jury deliberates for under an hour and sentences Lena Baker to death for killing her abusive lover. Three days after being pulled over by a Texas State Trooper in 2015 for not using a turn signal, Sandra Bland was found dead in a Waller County jail cell.

In a poignant visceral theatrical experience combining the two stories, Winston’s American Captives: Lena Baker & Sandra Bland articulates how little has changed in the relationship between Black women and the United States justice system in 60 years between the deaths of Lena and Sandra. This unapologetic personal accounting bares new awareness of timeworn atrocities.

This Dixon Place commission is made possible, in part, with private funds from The Jerome Foundation, and public funds from NY State Council on the Arts w/the support of Gov Andrew Cuomo & the NY State Legislature.