If ever a play needs a prequel, it is Katori Hall’s “The Blood Quilt,” which opened Thursday at Lincoln Center Theater’s Mitzi E. Newhouse after its premiere at D.C.’s Arena Stage. Who is this dead woman her four daughters talk about for two hours and 45 minutes?
These immediate survivors have gathered to observe their mother’s death and finish a quilt that she designed. The mother and her ancestors created over a hundred of these quilts that are works of art charting the family’s history since a slave ship brought them to the United States. A granddaughter, Zambia (Mirirai), also works on the new quilt, and because she had met her grandmother only a few times, this young character is the vehicle in the play that asks questions.