Radiotopia Presents

Erika’s life is stuck – but when her brilliant 12-year-old daughter recognizes her bakery gifts, they risk everything to build a dessert empire. “Self-Rising Flower” charts her years of entrepreneurial struggles, strained family bonds, and persevering against the odds through their innovative rise.

Leah’s won the state lottery’s biggest prize, and while her three daughters are elated by her good fortune, when one of them dares to speak truth to power it sets off a devastating chain of events. Long-held grievances and newfound wealth lead to familial treachery, violence and death.

The play was inspired by the infamous 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese -- a crime said to have been heard by many, but acted upon by virtually none, in a Queens neighborhood. 50 years after the murder, the details of the case have changed, but the reaction is still the same.

In 1958 Martin Luther King Jr. was stabbed by a deranged woman at a book signing. As he recovered in Harlem Hospital, he was visited by an old family friend and Black mystic, Howard Thurman. Their conversation changed the course of Civil Rights history. It was gripping, global, and highly personal.