sˈuːzən lˈɔːɹipˈɑːɹks ɛksplˈeɪnz, "sˈɪns hˈɪstɚɹi ɪz ɐ ɹᵻkˈoːɹdᵻd ɔːɹ ɹᵻmˈɛmbɚd ᵻvˈɛnt, θˈiəɾɚ, fɔːɹ mˌiː, ɪz ðə pˈɜːfɛkt plˈeɪs tʊ mˌeɪk hˈɪstɚɹi ðæt ˈɪz, bɪkˈʌz sˈoʊ mˌʌtʃ ʌv ˈæfɹɪkənɐmˈɛɹɪkən hˈɪstɚɹi hˈæzbiːn ˌʌnɹᵻkˈoːɹdᵻd, dɪsmˈɛmbɚd, wˈɑːʃt ˈaʊt, wˈʌn ʌv maɪ tˈæsks æz plˈeɪɹaɪt ɪz tuː ... loʊkˈeɪt ðɪ ænsˈɛstɹəl bˈɛɹɪəl ɡɹˈaʊnd, dˈɪɡ fɔːɹ bˈoʊnz, fˈaɪnd bˈoʊnz, hˈɪɹ ðə bˈoʊnz sˈɪŋ, ɹˈaɪt ɪt dˈaʊn.
Suzan Lori-Parks explains, "since history is a recorded or remembered event, theatre, for me, is the perfect place to `make' history--that is, because so much of African-American history has been unrecorded, dismembered, washed out, one of my tasks as playwright is to ... locate the ancestral burial ground, dig for bones, find bones, hear the bones sing, write it down.