"IN ORDER TO GO FORWARD, YOU MUST GO BACK."

CHARACTERS OF STRANGE FRUIT

So, here is the story...A lynched slave girl. A haunted family. An untold secret. With her interracial marriage to the love of her life on the line, LASHELLE ROBINSON, a spit-­‐fire African-­‐American Wall Street executive, travels back in time to save her ancestor Inka, a wrongfully murdered slave whose ghost stops at nothing to prevent LaShelle and Todd’s union. These are the characters in our Hip-­‐Hop musical, who  navigate the precarious road to discovering their roots, racial reconciliation and ultimately forgiveness!

BREAKDOWN OF CHARACTERS

Lashelle Robinson is  a  modern,  ambitious  financial  planner  working in New York City.  She is estranged from her family and lives with her white fiancé Todd Decatur -­‐ the love of her life.  Her worse fear is to end up unmarried and alone like her mother. But even as she excitedly prepares for her wedding, something strange  and  haunting  just  won’t  let  LaShelle  marry  Todd.  LaShelle  must  travel  back  into  her  doomed  ancestor  Inka’s past,  disguised  as  a  slave,  to  discover  the  story  that  has  been  swept  under  the  rug  for  centuries  -­‐  or  lose  Todd.    But  can LaShelle save Inka in order to save her marriage?   

Inka is a fiery slave queen  full  of  beauty  and  promise.  But  her  beauty  is  also  her  doom.    For  years  her  master  Quincy  watches  her,  trying  to separate  her  from  her  husband  Moses.    Although  she  does  everything in her power to avoid his advances, she cannot fight him  off.    When  Moses  is  brutally  punished,  Inka  attempts  to  sneak away while pregnant with her master’s child -­‐ only to be captured as a runaway slave.  She is lynched on an apple tree.  But  even  past  the  grave  she  vows  not  rest  until  her  story  is  told.  

June is a 16-year-old spirit ghost from the 1920’s who died trying to win her mother’s love in a tragic train accident. In her afterlife as a spirit, she drives a magical train, The Underground Railroad Xpress, through different time periods rescuing souls and setting people free (like a young Harriet Tubman). But she must rescue her own soul by going back to 1920’s Harlem and reconciling with her mother, Magnolia, who abandoned her in life - in order to pass over to the other side.

 

 

Love  is  in  the  air  when  the  dashing  journalist  Todd  Decatur  sweeps  LaShelle  off  her  feet  with  a  tear  jerking  proposal  of marriage.  Todd  constantly  asserts  his  love  for  LaShelle,  rejecting any family or interracial hurdles in order to be with her.  But when she runs from him at the altar of their wedding day because of a horrifying haunting, he goes on the adventure of  a  lifetime  to  discover  the  truth  behind  the  haunting    -­‐  and  get his wife back from the time warp before it’s too late. 

Abiggail is the dutiful wife of Quincy.    She  longs  for  his  affection  and  attention  but  is  constantly  ignored.    Her  suspicions  turn  to  rage  when  she realizes  that  he  is  infatuated  with  Inka,  the  slave  girl  right  under  her  employ.    Desperate  to  keep  her  man,  she  orders  a pregnant  Inka  sold  in  the  hopes  of  regaining  her  dignity  and  his love.  But will she ever win the love of her husband? 

Quincy is the conflicted, powerful  1807  villain  who  changes  the  destiny  of  an  entire  family forever.  He is a slave master and former traveling pastor, with lust  and  desires  he  can’t  control.    He’s  trapped  in  the  taboo  attraction for his young black slave girl Inka.  He wants to live by  his  Christian  principles,  but  there  is  a  fire  within  him  that  just won’t be quenched, causing him to do the unthinkable.  His one act of lust would destroy an entire family. 

Moses  is  a  revolutionary and bible-­‐literate slave carpenter.  He inspires the other slaves to run to freedom.  When his eyes fall on the beautiful Inka at a church meeting, he falls in love.  But their love must be hidden. He marries her in secret and plans their escape.  But when his wife  is  raped  on  his  wedding  night  by  Quincy  (in  his  own  cabin!), vengeance is the only thing Moses can see. In defense of  his  wife,  Moses  endures  one  of  the  most  painful  agonies  a  man can go through.