The Peculiar Patriot

MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION

May 5, 2026 - June 14, 2026

For 25 years, Liza Jessie Peterson’s groundbreaking one-woman show has challenged audiences to confront the devastating human impact of mass incarceration in America. Come witness this landmark production for its final run and be a part of its legacy.

Inspired by her decades-long work with prison populations, including on the notorious Rikers Island, Liza Jessie Peterson’s timely and urgent one-person show unpacks the human impact of mass incarceration in America. Fearlessly funny, smart and provocative, The Peculiar Patriot traces the migration of systemic injustice from the plantation to the prison yard.

Betsy LaQuanda Ross is a self-proclaimed “peculiar patriot,” who makes regular visits to penitentiaries to boost the morale of her incarcerated friends and family. Betsy is both victim and victor of this country’s prison system and her story turns statistics into achingly relatable stories, drawn from the experience of more than 2.5 million people behind bars.

Join us on select dates when, immediately following the performance, NBT will host an Afterwords with Liza Jessie Peterson and special guests for an in-depth conversation on the production.

The Peculiar Patriot is co-presented by National Black Theatre & New York Theatre Workshop.

CHECK OUT LIZA’S CURATED PLAYLIST BELOW

In association with Lena Waithe

Co-Produced with

New York Theatre Workshop

In association with

Lena Waithe

Liza Jessie Peterson

Playwright/Performer

Liza Jessie Peterson is an artivist—actress, playwright, poet, author, and youth advocate—who has worked with incarcerated populations for over 20 years. Her acclaimed one-woman show, The Peculiar Patriot, was nominated for Drama Desk and Elliot Norton Awards, received a Lilly Award, and is featured in the Oscar-shortlisted documentary Angola Do You Hear Us? (Paramount+/Amazon). She performed the play in 35 prisons nationwide.

Liza authored ALL DAY: A Year of Love and Survival Teaching Incarcerated Kids at Rikers Island (Hachette), now being adapted for the stage by The Old Globe Theater. She appeared in Ava DuVernay’s The 13th (Netflix) and consulted on PBS’s Rikers (Bill Moyers).

A celebrated poet, she began at the Nuyorican Poets Café and appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry. Screen credits include Bamboozled, Love the Hard Way, A Luv Tale, Everything’s Gonna Be All White, and The Chi. She also created two short films: MERLINA and Black Love Manifesto.

More: www.lizajessiep.com.

Talvin Wilks

Director

Talvin Wilks is a playwright, director and dramaturg. His plays include Tod, the boy, Tod, The Trial of Uncle S&M, Bread of Heaven, An American Triptych, Jimmy and Lorraine: A Musing, and As I Remember It with Carmen de Lavallade. Directorial projects include the world premiere productions of UDU by Sekou Sundiata, The Love Space Demands by Ntozake Shange, the Obie Award/AUDELCO Award winning The Shaneequa Chronicles by Stephanie Berry, The Peculiar Patriot by Liza Jessie Peterson and co-writer/co-director for Ping Chong’s ongoing series of Undesirable Elements and Collidescope: Adventures in Pre- and Post-Racial America. Since 2014, some of his most acclaimed directorial work has been centered at Penumbra Theatre Company – The Ballad of Emmett Till and Benevolence by Ifa Bayeza, This Bitter Earth by Harrison David Rivers, The Owl Answers by Adrienne Kennedy and The White Card by Claudia Rankine. As a dramaturg he has collaborated on numerous award-winning projects with nationally renowned companies such as Bebe Miller Company, Urban Bush Women, Camille A. Brown and Dancers, and the stage adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between theWorld and Me at the Apollo Theatre. He is a 2020 recipient of the McKnight Theater Artist Fellowship.