Everything in life is a performance. I’ve chosen to present a performance of antebellum life that is in conversation with the ways in which that time has been presented to and informed the world’s collective imagination of life in the American South during slavery.
-- The Author  (Author’s Notes)

Importance: This quote, taken from the author's introductory notes, indicates one of his essential, core intentions in creating the script. The use of the word "performance" suggests an appearance of reality, rather than a more literal representation of reality. This means that the author's use of the word "performance" here is connected to his comment about how "antebellum life" (that is, the life of the American South before the Civil War to end slavery) has been "presented to," a phrase that in essence evokes the same concepts about reality as the word "performance." He is essentially saying that the version of that time and experience...