Details

We Shall Not Be Moved has a brooding, often joyful, score that is filled with purpose and possibility. Emmy-nominated Daniel Bernard Roumain's music combines with Global TED fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph's words, which, with direction from two-time Tony Award-winner Bill T. Jones, creates a piece that is soulful, beautifully simple and suggests a hopeful vision of the future. Five young people are on the run, taking refuge in a derelict house on the site of Philadelphia's former MOVE compound. The self-defined family of young people is inspired by the ghosts inhabiting their new home. A confrontation with a local police officer - herself a woman of colour - raises issues of identity, gender, race and the violence that sometimes ensues. Ultimately, the piece hinges on the notion of personal responsibility. On 13 May 1985, local police ended a standoff with the radical black liberation group MOVE by dropping explosives on the organisation's terraced house headquarters - starting a fire that city officials then allowed to burn. Eleven MOVE members, including five children, were killed and an entire neighbourhood was wiped out, leaving over 250 people homeless.

Creatives/Company

Music: Daniel Bernard Roumain
Lyrics: Marc Bamuthi Joseph