Yale Repertory Theatre will present the first-ever full staging of Zora Neale Hurston’s Spunk this fall.

Adapted in 1935 by the author from her short story of the same name, the play version was unproduced and lost to time until 1997, when it was uncovered by the Library of Congress in its unpublished manuscripts division. Now, 28 years later, Yale Rep Resident Director Tamilla Woodard will bring the tale to life with traditional music, additional new songs, arrangements, and music supervision by Nehemiah Luckett and choreography by nicHi douglas.

Running October 3-25, the premiere cast of Spunk will include Jeannette Bayardelle (& Juliet, Girl From the North Country) as Mrs. Watson, Shawn Bowers (Ain’t Too Proud, Jelly’s Last Jam) as Willie Joe/Ensemble, Tyler Clarke (Macbeth, Ain’t No Mo’) as Teazie/Ensemble, Alaman Diadhiou (Jelly’s Last Jam) as Blue Trout/Ensemble, Amahri Edwards-Jones (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) as Maggie Mae/Ensemble, Janiah-Camile François (McNeal) as Daisy/Ensemble, Charlie Hudson III (Nollywood Dreams, Hurt Village) as Hodge Bishop, J. Quinton Johnson (Choir Boy, Hamilton) as Spunk, Naiqui Macabroad ( I Am Delivered’t, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) as Jim Bishop, Kimberly Marable (Chicago, Sister Act) as Ruby, Christian Pedersen (Ohio State Murders, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) as Captain Hammer/Ensemble, Isaiah Reynolds (Beautiful the Carole King Musical, Choir Boy) as Nunkie/Ensemble, Kimber Elayne Sprawl (Othello, Girl from the North Country) as Evalina, Matthew Elijah Webb (Our Town, Fat Ham) as Admiral/Ensemble, and Correy West (Ain’t Too Proud, South Pacific) as Oral/Ensemble.

Written amidst the Harlem Renaissance while she was studying anthropology at Barnard, Hurston set Spunk in a small Florida town resembling her own hometown of Eatonville, one of America’s first incorporated Black townships. In Spunk, a tall, handsome stranger strolls into town looking for work. With undeniable charisma and divine musicianship, Spunk sets tongues to wagging with admiration and envy. The laws of man, the power of hoodoo, and the divinity of love all collide when he locks eyes with Evalina, already married to the local conjurer’s son.

Said Woodard in a statement, “There’s such a profound feeling of celebration around giving life to a text that has been waiting for nearly a century to receive a full staging. Spunk is a singular work and a gorgeous synthesis of Zora Neale Hurston’s passions: Black folk music, mythology, oral storytelling and putting black vernacular on the page as it was spoken in these rural places at the time. Nehemiah builds the play’s musical world from Hurston’s own cultural anthropology, recordings and the clues she left behind in her extensive body of work, and nicHi’s choreography meets the musical landscape with vibrancy and celebration. Finally, Zora gets to be a celebrated playwright alongside her other celebrated writerly identities. We’re aiming to give Hurston’s words the breadth of theatrical life she imagined. It’s exhilarating to lead this historic production.”

Woodard's creative team will include music director John Bronston, scenic designer Karen Loewy Movilla, costume designer Kristen Taylor, lighting designer Gib Gibney, sound designer Justin Ellington, projection designer Ke Xu 许可, hair designer Matthew Armentrout, production dramaturgs Eric M. Glover and Catherine Sheehy, technical director Tom Minucci, fight and intimacy directors Kelsey Rainwater and Michael Rossmy, vocal coach Julie Foh, associate director Stephanie Rolland, casting director Calleri Jensen Davis, and stage manager James Mountcastle.

Visit YaleRep.org.