If you live in Atlanta, you only have a few days left to go see the play Blues for an Alabama Sky. Sunday May 10th is the last performance. I love playwright/author Pearl Cleage. So I couldn't miss seeing her production as it celebrates the twentieth anniversary since the premier at the Alliance Theatre in 1995.
The play takes place in 1930 during two very pivotal periods in U.S. history, the Harlem Renaissance and The Great Depression. Everyone is trying to pay their bills to survive yet they still have the need to live their dreams.
Actress Crystal Fox, best known for In the Heat of the Night and The Haves and the Have Nots, plays a blues singer called Angel. Her meal ticket has just married someone else leaving her jobless and homeless. Her friend Guy, played by Tyrone Mitchell Henderson, is always there to look out for her. Guy is a hilarious gay costume designer who dreams of working for Josephine Baker.
The cast also includes a naive twenty five year old virgin longing to open a controversial family planning clinic, a over-worked negro doctor, and a country boy from Alabama trying to understand Harlem living. All of the characters were diverse and important to the play. I also loved the design of the apartment building set.
Make sure that you also visit the Pearl Cleage A Time for Reflection exhibit on the balcony level of the theatre. It's a great chance to learn more about her life's work. The exhibit opens at 12:30 daily.
Visit the Alliance Theatre website for more information and tickets.
Enjoy!
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