The onslaught of multiple
Twelfth Nights continues with a twist, as Shakespeare's mid-career comedy provides the basic plot inspiration for Talawa's Duke Ellington jukebox musical,
Play On Exclamation Mark. Set in Harlem's Cotton Club in the 1920s, Sheldon Epps (concept) and Cheryl L.West (book) bring Viola (Tsemaye Bob-Egbe) to the club to try her luck as a songwriter. But her uncle Jester (Llewellyn Jamal) informs her that she won't convince anyone to listen to her music because women are famously incapable of writing songs. To get the legendary Duke (Earl Gregory) to consider her, Viola dresses as a man with the hastily-acquired pseudonym of Vyman, and her songs impress the Duke so much he employs "him" to serenade a disinterested lover on his behalf: Lady Liv (KoKo Alexandra,) the club's resident diva.
