Originally Published by: The Washington Informer on 04/26/2022
Written by: Brenda C. Siler

The powerful insights and imagination of the prolific author Octavia E. Butler will take center stage April 28 and 29 at the Strathmore in North Bethesda, Maryland, when her provocative novel, “Parable of the Sower,” is presented on stage.

The opera features the tale of Lauren Olamina and her community as they struggle to survive under dire circumstances. Insights about gender, race and the future of humankind in America count as major themes of the production with more than 30 original anthems drawn from 200 years of Black music also included in this interpretation of Butler’s epic sci-fi tale.

Bernice Reagon Johnson and her daughter, Toshi Reagon, serve as the composers of the score. As for those unfamiliar with Butler, a Black woman publishing a science fiction novel in 1993 should at the very least, peak one’s curiosity. Butler had planned a series of six “Parable” novels but only completed two, “Parable of the Sower” and “Parable of the Talents.”

Now, after years of attempts to convert her Afrofuturist vision to the stage, audiences will see the result of labor-intensive efforts that first took shape as a concert in 2015.

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