![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Approved-Photo-Ode-to-Mariah--1024x819.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Poster for \u201cOde To Mariah.\u201d (FAMU Essential Theatre.)<\/p>\n
All seats were sold out.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOde to Mariah,\u201d\u00a0written by Beth Turner and directed by Evelyn D. Harris,\u00a0opened\u00a0Feb.\u00a05\u00a0at the Ronald O. Davis Acting Studio and closed four nights later after selling out every\u00a0show. Once\u00a0the lights went down, the room got\u00a0quiet, the\u00a0kind of quiet where you could feel people paying attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Set in 1898,\u00a0the story centers on\u00a017-year-old Mariah,\u00a0a young Black woman who dreams of going to college and becoming a teacher during a time when that path was far from normal. Inspired by her African grandfather, she pushes against racial barriers, gender roles,\u00a0and financial hardship.\u00a0That dream becomes harder to hold onto after her mother\u2019s death.\u00a0
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jakyra Aliyah Estiverne, a third-year theatre\u00a0student\u00a0from Broward County, plays the narrator and\u00a0said\u00a0carrying Mariah\u2019s story came with responsibility.\u00a0
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\u201cAs a narrator, it was more about honoring their history,\u201d Estiverne said. \u201cIt was a very deep struggle for Black women, especially in the 1800s, to grow up to be successful due to family responsibilities and societal expectations.\u00a0I\u00a0was telling her experience every tear she had, every moment of uncertainty.\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Mariah\u2019s mother dies,\u00a0she\u00a0must\u00a0help raise her younger\u00a0siblings.\u00a0From there, the story feels heavier.\u00a0
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Estiverne said she relates to that weight in her own life as the eldest in her family.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEven when I had my moments where I wanted to break down and cry, I wanted to show them that I\u2019m a strong Black woman,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cAs Black women, we have higher expectations placed on us.\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0<\/p>\n
A moment that changed the mood in the theatre was when Mariah\u00a0was\u00a0blamed while everyone\u00a0was\u00a0still grieving. Estiverne said the audience reacted almost\u00a0immediately. \u201cI\u00a0heard every emotion they felt,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0just me. It was the whole room.\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kara Mullings, a second-year theatre\u00a0student\u00a0from West Palm Beach who plays Aurelia, said her character is the one holding the family together.\u00a0
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\u201cShe was the mediator,\u201d Mullings said. \u201cShe controlled the chaos.\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
Aurelia supports Mariah\u2019s dream, even when money makes it seem out of reach. When her grandfather finds jewelry that could help pay for school,\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0a moment of hope. After Aurelia\u2019s death, though, Mariah is forced to grow up quickly.\u00a0
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For Essential Theatre, the show is part of a bigger commitment to telling African American stories while preparing students for the stage.\u00a0
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Director Evelyn D. Tyler said protecting the emotional truth of the story was her top priority.\u00a0
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I felt\u00a0most\u00a0important to protect throughout this journey was truth itself,\u201d Tyler said. \u201cHaving the actors tell this story in truth was key and highly important to me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Poster for \u201cOde To Mariah.\u201d (FAMU Essential Theatre.) All seats were sold out.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cOde to Mariah,\u201d\u00a0written by Beth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-180071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}