Digging through American history - literally - is the premise of Suzan Lori Parks' The America Play, opening its southeastern premiere with Atlanta's Actor's Express Jan. 14. Performances began Jan. 11 for a run through Feb. 24. Actor's Express artistic director Wier Harman directs.

In The America Play's surreal world, the Foundling Father, an African-American man so obssessed with Abraham Lincoln that he takes to impersonating him at an amusement park called the Great Hole of History, leaves his wife, Lucy and child, Brazil. Together, wife and child go to the Great Hole to find their loved one and instead dig up historical artifacts in which they seek to discover their American identity. Parks is the author of Fucking A, In the Blood, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World and the OBIE Award winning plays Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom (1990) and Venus (1996).

Carol Mitchell-Leon and Robert Singleton are Lucy and Brazil with Gary Yates as The Foundling Father. Nick Few and Betty Hart play the Visitors.

Designing The America Play are Louisa Thompson (sets), Sydney Roberts (costumes) and Ken Yunker (lighting).

Tickets are $25-$20 with preview tickets at $10 and the opening night gala at $65. For reservations, call (404) 607-SHOW. Actor's Express is on the web at http://www.actorsexpress.com. — By Christine Ehren