FOR RELEASE: May 28, 2026
CONTACT: Ann Timmons, 703-244-7546

A New Play, “Around the Snake Turn,” Examines Patriarchy, Conviction and the Dangerous Power of Accusations

June 19-28 at Joe's Movement Emporium, easy-to-access venue in Mt. Rainier, MD, Gateway Arts District

Alexandria, VA – Pipeline Playwrights is proud to present the DC area premiere of “Around the
Snake Turn,” written by Patricia Connelly and directed by Rikki Howie Lacewell. The play
continues the theater collaborative’s commitment to amplifying bold, socially engaged stories by
women playwrights.

“Around the Snake Turn” is a tense drama set in the Upper Volta region of West Africa. When Kwame and Baaba’s son is accused of a crime, a local fetish priest places a devastating curse on their extended family, one that can only be lifted through atonement: the offering of a young virgin girl as a trokosi, or “wife of the gods.” In reality, the role condemns the girl to a life of
sexual servitude and slavery. As the threat turns toward her own daughter, Baaba refuses to accept the fate imposed upon her family and challenges the accusation. She confronts the power of extended family, tradition, and religion in a fight to protect her child.

“I have been living with this play for more than a decade,” said playwright Patricia Connelly, whose work has been seen locally at the Capital Fringe Festival, The Kennedy Center Page-to-Stage Festival, the Women’s Voices Theater Festival in Washington, DC, and at Joe’s. “I saw a story about a seven-year-old girl trapped in the trokosi system and began to research it. I felt
moved to bear witness. I have written about girls being abused in Catholic schools, about a woman unknowingly forced to carry a suicide bomb by her fiancé, and about female genital mutilation in the United States. My hope is that I have helped lift up the voices and stories of some of the fierce women who are resisting the myriad ways men exploit and control women
and their bodies.”

The play’s director, Rickki Howie Lacewell, also has a passion for supporting women’s voices, and stories that center on people and experiences that often go unheard. “I’m drawn to storytelling that makes an audience think and feel, even when it’s uncomfortable,” she explained. “This play does exactly that. The conversations we’re still having as a cast go beyond
memorizing lines and putting on a show. We’re really living with these characters and wrestling with how they connect, clash, challenge traditions, and challenge each other’s beliefs.” 

Howie Lacewell has previously directed two other plays for Pipeline Playwrights: “Wednesdays in Mississippi” by Nicole Burton, about female civil rights activists in the 1960s and “It's My Party!” by Ann Timmons, about U.S. suffragists in the early 20th century. Howie Lacewell and Connelly both view this production as timely. “We have been learning more about Jeffrey Epstein and this global network of wealthy, powerful men who bought and trafficked young women for sex,” notes Connelly. “The play is set in contemporary Africa, but women having to fight to protect themselves and their children from sexual violence, abuse, and trafficking is universal.” For her part, Howie Lacewell hopes the play draws a wide audience: “In the climate we’re living in right now, theater has always been a place of escape, reflection, and conversation. While this play touches on topics people don’t always talk about openly, at its core it’s about truth, trust, tradition, and trials.”

The play runs June 19–28, 2026 at Joe’s Movement Emporium, 3309 Bunker Hill Road, Mount Rainier, MD 20712. There will be a second streaming run of the play in Fall 2026.

If you or someone in your organization would like to see and review the show, please contact
Ann Timmons at [email protected], or Maggi Richard at [email protected]

Tickets are available at:
https://www.onthestage.tickets/show/pipeline-playwrights/69d6b80d3a25da0a565424b5

Pipeline Playwrights is a non-profit theater group that creates opportunities for women’s stories,
particularly those of women in their Second Act, to take center stage, closing the theater gender
gap one play, one reading, one production at a time. Learn more:
https://www.pipelineplaywrights.org

Pipeline Playwrights is the only theater collaborative in the Washington, DC area dedicated to producing new plays by women playwrights. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation founded by women playwrights, Pipeline seeks to close the theatre gender gap one play, one reading, one production at a time. The members of Pipeline Playwrights are Crystal Adaway, Nicole Burton, Patricia Connelly, Jean Koppen, and Ann Timmons. Find out more at https://www.pipelineplaywrights.org