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Washington, DC

Tempestuous Elements Tickets

Name: Tempestuous Elements
Start: 2024-02-16
End: 2024-03-17
Location: Fichandler Stage at Arena Stage

The riveting story of Anna Julia Cooper.

Production shot of Tempestuous Elements in DC, with Gina Daniels as Anna Julia Cooper.

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Production shot of Tempestuous Elements in DC, with Gina Daniels as Anna Julia Cooper and Lolita Marie as Hannah/Mary/Nellie.

About Tempestuous Elements

By Kia Corthron
Directed by Psalmayene 24

"A big chunk of hidden history…and hidden D.C. history"
— Molly Smith

Born into slavery in North Carolina, Anna Julia Cooper was a visionary Black feminist and educator in the late 19th/early 20th centuries, and only the fourth African American woman to earn a doctoral degree. Tempestuous Elements—the 11th in Arena Stage’s Power Play cycle—shines a light on Cooper’s tumultuous tenure as Principal of Washington, D.C.’s historic M Street High School where she fought to keep Black education alive, despite the racism, gossip and sexism that threatened to consign her efforts to obscurity.