{"id":151356,"date":"2026-10-16T19:44:30","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T23:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/?p=151356"},"modified":"2026-10-16T19:44:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T23:44:30","slug":"the-house-that-will-not-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/?p=151356","title":{"rendered":"The House That Will Not Stand"},"content":{"rendered":"

The House That Will Not Stand<\/h1>\n

Marcus Gardley\u2019s darkly funny drama, directed by Kashi Johnson<\/h4>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Makeda (Amayah Wade) looks on in the background as Beartrice (Deirdre Van Walters) confronts her sister Marie Josephine (Sophia Gonzalez) during a rehearsal for The House That Will Not Stand. Photo provided by Kashi Johnson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lehigh\u2019s The House That Will Not Stand <\/em>brings a little-known history of free Black women in New Orleans to the Lehigh Valley<\/strong><\/p>\n

BETHLEHEM, Pa. A mother\u2019s determination to protect her daughters collides with their desire to live on their own terms in Marcus Gardley\u2019s The House That Will Not Stand<\/em>. Lehigh University\u2019s Department of Theatre and Mustard & Cheese Drama Society present the production November 6-8 and 11-14, 2026, in the Diamond Theater at Zoellner Arts Center.<\/p>\n

Set in 1813 New Orleans, Gardley\u2019s darkly funny drama follows Beartrice Albans after the death of Lazare, her longtime white companion in a pla\u00e7age arrangement (a relationship outside marriage that provided financial support to a free woman of color). His death threatens the security she has built, and the women in her household fight over love, inheritance, and who will decide their future. Inspired by Federico Garc\u00eda Lorca\u2019s The House of Bernarda Alba<\/em>, the play brings family rivalry into a world shaped by slavery and the precarious freedom of free women of color.<\/p>\n

Directed by Kashi Johnson, the production stars guest artist Deirdre Van Walters, who received the 2018 Bethlehem NAACP Celebrating the Arts Award, alongside seven Lehigh actors. Camille \u201cWho?\u201d Armstrong, a former performer in the international touring production of STOMP<\/em>, serves as movement, music, and cultural consultant, helping build the physical and ancestral life of the house.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are funny, sensual, strategic, loving, difficult, ambitious, wounded and fully alive. That fullness is what drew me to the play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kashi Johnson, director<\/strong><\/p>\n

The artists shaping the house<\/h2>\n

Established Black women artists work alongside emerging Lehigh actors.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Kashi Johnson<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director<\/p>\n

Johnson, a Lehigh alumna, is a theatre artist, director, and Full Professor in Lehigh University\u2019s Department of Theatre. In 2007, she created Act Like You Know<\/em>, her nationally known, groundbreaking Hip Hop theatre course. Her directing credits include The Piano Lesson<\/em>, Flyin\u2019 West<\/em>, The Colored Museum<\/em>, and Trouble in Mind<\/em>. She is an Artistic Associate with the Black Acting Methods Studio.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Deirdre Van Walters<\/strong><\/p>\n

Guest artist \/ Beartrice Albans<\/p>\n

Van Walters is an actor, director, poet, playwright, and U.S. Army veteran. Her artistic path includes the Paul Robeson Black Arts Ensemble at Rutgers University and the Frank Silvera Writers\u2019 Workshop in Harlem. She works with Touchstone Theatre\u2019s Young Playwrights Lab and received the 2018 Bethlehem NAACP Celebrating the Arts Award.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Camille \u201cWho?\u201d Armstrong<\/strong><\/p>\n

Movement, music, and cultural consultant<\/p>\n

Armstrong is a multidisciplinary performing artist, choreographer, educator, and artistic consultant whose career spans more than four decades. A former performer in the international touring production of STOMP<\/em>, she works across movement, rhythm, body percussion, theatre, and music.<\/p>\n

This production marks her third creative collaboration with Lehigh<\/p>\n

University.<\/p>\n

The cast<\/h3>\n

Deirdre Van Walters <\/strong>Beartrice Albans<\/p>\n

Sophia Gonzalez <\/strong>Marie Josephine<\/p>\n

Shanti Edouard <\/strong>Agn\u00e8s Albans<\/p>\n

Amayah Wade <\/strong>Makeda<\/p>\n

Samantha Barnes <\/strong>Maude Lynn Albans<\/p>\n

Madison Danquah <\/strong>La Veuve and Ancestral Ensemble<\/p>\n

Kayla Francis <\/strong>Odette Albans<\/p>\n

Adrien Simmons <\/strong>Ancestral Ensemble<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Creative and Production Credits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marcus Gardley, playwright; Kashi Johnson, director; Camille Armstrong, movement, music, and cultural consultant; Erica Hoelscher, scenic and costume designer; Mary Ann Swords Greene, costume director; Sawyer Ostapovich, lighting and media designer; Nova Robertson, assistant technical director and sound designer; Trevor Flocco, technical director; Ashton Dodge, stage manager; Casey McGinty, voice and dialect coach.<\/p>\n

Headshots courtesy of the artists. Rehearsal photo provided by Kashi Johnson.<\/p>\n

Production information and tickets<\/a><\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nKashi Johnson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The House That Will Not Stand Marcus Gardley\u2019s darkly funny drama, directed by Kashi Johnson Lehigh\u2019s The House That Will Not Stand brings a little-known history of free Black women in New Orleans to the Lehigh Valley BETHLEHEM, Pa. A mother\u2019s determination to protect her daughters collides with their desire to live on their own … Continue reading The House That Will Not Stand<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\r\n\r\n{excerpt}\r\n\r\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/will-not-stand.jpg?fit=672%2C372&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=151356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151362,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151356\/revisions\/151362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/151361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=151356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=151356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=151356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}