At Night on the Sun

Overview

As the curtain rises on Will Alexander’s adroit panAfrican pageant, courtiers puzzle, stew and snipe over the central mystery of their existence—the absence of King Asoka. Where is he? Can mere ministers of war decide, or do the eerie signals demand the counsel of the Magicians? What is he doing, what does he intend? Is intention still on the table? So the old ways play themselves out, but on Asoka’s return a table of glittering galaxies play themselves out like cards from the future. Like Lorraine Hansberry’s Black Arts Movement era masterpiece Les Blancs, Alexander’s At Night on the Sun presents a planet’s struggle for selfdetermination as an occasion for both joy and fear. It is a work of art for our age and for ages yet to come.

Author Biography

Born in 1948, Will Alexander is a poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, visual artist and pianist. He was the recipient of a Whiting Fellowship for Poetry in 2001 and a California Arts Council Fellowship in 2002. He was also the subject of a colloquium published in the prestigious African American cultural journal Callaloo in 1999. Author of 20 books (including MIRACH SPEAKS TO HIS GRAMMATICAL TRANSPARENTS, INSIDE THE EARTHQUAKE PALACE: 4 PLAYS, ABOVE THE HUMAN NERVE DOMAIN, COMPRESSION & PURITY, EXOBIOLOGY AS GODDESS, and TOWARDS THE PRIMEVAL LIGHTNING FIELD), Alexander has taught at various colleges including University of California, San Diego, New College (San Francisco, CA), Hofstra University, and Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, in addition to being associated with the nonprofit organization Theatre of Hearts/Youth First, serving atrisk youth. He is a lifelong resident of Los Angeles.