Donna Latham

YELLA JACK
Racism. Misogyny. Classism. Religion vs. science. With murder and mayhem.When most white folks in Memphis up sticks and flee after yellow fever, a “stranger’s disease,” strikes, determined residents hunker down to stay alive in the purgatorial city. They form a found family to nurse the sick, keep the city afloat, embrace new opportunities—and scheme revenge. Jack, a serial-killing embodiment of contagion, collects trophies from victims—earbobs, rings, pearls, and a precious symbol of humanity. When Sister Gregory fails to return after nursing fever folk in Shanty Town, the found family fears the worst. All pray for frost. As ever.Set during the Memphis Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878, the Southern Gothic YELLA JACK centers around an unlikely sisterhood that converts a brothel into an indigents hospital. A women’s ensemble piece with humor, pathos, and rich language.

Purple Circuit