Angelica Chéri '09

A production of the play "Guns & Powder" by Angelica Chéri (née Nutt) '09 will premier Jan. 28 at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Va. The show, which was honored in 2018 by the Academy of Arts and Letters with the prestigious Richard Rodgers Award, will run through Feb. 23.

Inspired by the true story of Chéri’s great-great-aunts, Mary and Martha Clarke - African-American twins who passed for white and were notorious outlaws - the musical, set in post-emancipation Texas, follows Mary and Martha’s journey of defying racial boundaries and seizing what rightfully belongs to them, until a little romance shakes everything up.

The production is directed by the critically acclaimed Robert O'Hara ("Slave Play" on Broadway) and stars Emmy Raver-Lampman ("The Umbrella Academy" on Netflix, original Broadway cast of "Hamilton"), Solea Pfeiffer ("Hamilton," "Evita"), Donald Webber ("Hamilton") and Marva Hicks ("Motown the Musical," "Caroline, or Change").

Chéri, who wrote the book and lyrics for "Gun & Powder," is a playwright, bookwriter/lyricist, screenwriter, and poet. Her Prophet’s Cycle Trilogy comprises the plays "The Seeds of Abraham" (Signature Theatre, Billie Holiday Theatre), "The Sting of White Roses" (North Carolina Black Repertory Company) and "Crowndation: I Will Not Lie to David" (National Black Theatre-I AM SOUL Residency). Her play "Berta, Berta" will have its world premiere this year at CATF.

Chéri has written for the 48 Hours in Harlem Festival and won an Obie Award for co-producing the Fire This Time Festival. She and Ross Baum developed "Gun & Powder" at Goodspeed Opera, Two River Theater, the Tisch Center for New Musicals, and the SigWorks Lab, with public presentations in the Broadway’s Future Songbook concert series at Lincoln Center and in the Drama League’s DirectorFest.

After receiving her B.A. in theater from UCLA, Chéri earned an M.F.A. in playwriting from Columbia University, and an M.F.A. in musical theatre writing from NYU.