By Neal Learner The chill sounds of West African pop music greet audience members as they enter the theater at Joe’s Movement Emporium, creating a visceral sense of time and place. We’re soon drawn into a compelling story that’s both culturally specific and universally broad. Around the Snake Turn, presented by Pipeline Playwrights, is a powerful new play by Patricia Connelly that explores what lengths a mother will go to protect her daughter, especially in the face of societal, religious, and gender norms that push against the agency of women and girls. Set in a village of an unnamed West African country, the story follows the life of a comfortable and loving family: pregnant mother Baaba (played with fierce maternal instinct by Sonja Jinkins), fisherman father Kwame (played with patriarchal dominance by Matthew J. Murray), college-bound son Yoofi (played with optimistic-turned-fatalistic resignation by Norlian Lambe), and 10-year-old daughter Aku (played with sweet innocence by Desirae Brown). Desirae Brown (Aku) (on the swing), Sonja Dinkins (Baaba), and Matthew J. Murray (Kwame) in ‘Around the Snake Turn.’ Photo by Nate Jackson. The opening scene is joyful, with Yoofi bounding into the family’s house to announce he has received a university scholarship to study mathematics. The family, especially Baaba, is thrilled at the news, as the mother adamantly proclaims education is the key to obtaining a better life. Aku is happy for her brother, of course, but she seems more interested in sleeping in late and pestering her father to take her out on the fishing boat. Conservative-minded Kwame welcomes his son’s good news, but hints at why he would want to give up a perfectly good life as a fisherman. The story soon takes its dramatic turn when Kwame breaks the news to Baaba that a local family has accused Yoofi of forcing himself on their daughter, who turns out to be pregnant. The girl’s family has asked the village priest to place a curse on Kwame’s extended family. Certain of her son’s innocence, Baaba seeks to meet the accusers, redact the curse, and put the matter behind them. Yoofi has a bright future that can’t be derailed by a false claim. But Baaba and the audience soon find out it’s much more complicated than that. Desirae Brown (Aku) (on the swing) and Norlian Lambe (Yoofi) in ‘Around the Snake Turn.’ Photo by Nate Jackson. Curses can’t be lifted, and an increasingly regressive Kwame insists that the family must make an atonement to avoid the coming ill fates of sickness, poverty, and worse. Atonement, in this case, means offering a virgin daughter to the local fetish priest as a trokosi, or “wife of the gods.” Baaba knows what this really means and won’t have it. The rest of the play is her attempt to save Aku from a life of sexual servitude and slavery. Director Rikki Howie Lacewell moves the story briskly along, never lingering too long on a particular scene, and expertly drawing out each character’s inner thoughts and outward concerns. Scene changes are effectively created by small snippets of African music (sound designer, Janice Rivera) and large projections of African images on the stage’s white backdrop (lighting designer, Jaeden Arrington; photographs, Patrick Ball). Each scene takes place at a different quadrant of the stage. A large tree swing at center stage is a place of both happiness and deep sorrow (set consultant and properties designer, Lee Gross). As the story progresses, we witness Baaba’s growing frustration and alarm at the limited options available to help her daughter. In one scene, Baaba’s sewing partner Serwa (Aliya Gardner) — herself once a trokosi before managing to leave the priest — claims it’s an honor to become a “wife of the gods.” Serwa does, however, present a plan to save Aku by proposing she marry an older man. Betrothed girls can’t become trokosis. We cheer Baaba’s refusal to marry off her 10-year-old daughter.  Baaba faces equally unsatisfying prospects as she interacts with the other characters, including Serwa, a bead merchant; Katar (Brenda Parker), a non-governmental agency worker; Dela (Rowan Campbell); and the village priest Adukpo (played with charismatic nonchalance by MarQuis Fair),  The world we witness doesn’t seem particularly exotic, even though it’s set in far-off lands. The characters, like all of us, are just living out their normal lives — fishing, sewing, getting ready to go to college — albeit under a unique set of cultural and religious norms. Without giving away spoilers, suffice it to say the play does not have a happy ending. It does, however, raise some provocative questions. How can we respect deeply held cultural and religious beliefs, but at the same time reject practices that disproportionately harm women and girls? How can certain customs be offensive to one group yet remain supported by broad swaths of another, including among women? Looking closer to home, what can we do to stop sexual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking of girls in our own country? Connelly explains, “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.” This show achieves that and more. Around the Snake Turn is a fast-paced and thought-provoking piece of theater that lingers with you well after the lights turn on. Running Time: Two hours and 15 minutes, including an intermission. Around the Snake Turn plays through June 28, 2026, presented by Pipeline Playwrights performing at Joe’s Movement Emporium, 3309 Bunker Hill Road, Mount Rainier, MD. Tickets ($33 for general admission; $23 for students/industry/essential workers) may be purchased online  or in person at the door. Around the Snake Turn will also stream on demand in fall 2026. The program for Around the Snake Turn is online here. The creative team includes producer Maggi Richard; associate producer Lydia Biagioli; stage manager Pamela Northrup; assistant stage manager Danielle J. Curry; hair, makeup, and costume designer Shemika Renée; and fight and intimacy coordinator Olivia Hinebaugh. Neal Learner is a former newspaper arts reporter. He’s also a composer and musical theater creator. His shows have been produced throughout the Washington, DC, area, including a 2025 production of French Cupcakes at Bethesda Little Theatre (BLT); a 2023 production of TREES at BLT; a 2022 production of Get Me Home at the Athenaeum in Alexandria, VA; a 2019 production of Soul Redeemer at Capital Fringe; and a 2017 production of Life: A Comic Opera at Capital Fringe. Learn more at learnermusic.com. ...read more read less