**** Highly Recommended Remy Bumppo Theatre Company always seems to produce thoughtful plays about people in conflict. Their latest, Blues for an Alabama Sky, directed by Mikael Burke, fits that criterion perfectly. It is a gripping drama about complicated people doing what they have to do to survive. It is also one of two plays and a series of readings produced as a part of the month-long Pearl Cleage festival (the other being The Nacirema Society at the Goodman Theatre). Blues for an Alabama Sky will keep your attention firmly on the action. 4 Spotlights
According to Pearl Cleage, the Harlem Renaissance was a period of tremendous creative accomplishment for many black artists but the Stock Market crash dried up the money flowing to creative work, crushing hopes and bringing fear to many. Blues for an Alabama Sky is a kind of a microcosm of the hopes and fears of that time and place, while some of its themes – intolerance, homophobia and anti-abortion – are pulled out of today’s headlines.
Angel (Tiffany Renee Johnson) is an emotional force of nature inclined to jealousy. She’s used to doing whatever she needs to do to survive. Her latest lover dumped her, but that very night, sat in the front row of the Cotton Club to watch her sing. She lost her cool and made a scene, which got her fired. If that wasn’t bad enough, her ex threw her out of his place – without her clothes! Later that night, her cousin Guy (Breon Arzell) tries to walk her home when a stranger helps him.
Guy is an aspiring costume designer who dreams about moving to Paris to design for Josephine Baker. He’s promised Angel that she’ll go to Paris with him when Josephine sends for him. Guy doesn’t care what the bullies in the neighborhood think about his clothes, he dresses as he pleases.
Guy’s next door neighbor – and good friend – Delia (Jazzlyn Luckett Aderele), is a social worker who is trying to get Margaret Sanger to establish one of her birth control clinics in Harlem. Delia is shy, awkward and not very assertive until she gets fired up. When Delia’s aunt sent her a sexy, sparkly dress, Angel appropriated it without a word of thanks.
Another one of Guy’s friends, Sam (Edgar Sanchez), is a doctor in the neighborhood who seems to be delivering babies every night. After Delia persuades him to help her write her speech for Margaret Sanger, Sam and Delia get closer.
One day, Leland (Ajax Dontavius), the man who helped Guy walk Angel home drops by. He’s visiting from Alabama and interested in Angel because she looks like his wife who died in childbirth. He plies her with gifts, even though he doesn’t approve of her lifestyle, her family or her friends. Angel wants another meal ticket so she tries to make herself become someone else.
Angel’s personal tragedy is that she never really learns, making the same mistake over and over again. Her selfish decisions lead to tragedy for everyone else.
Kudos to Lauren M. Nichols for the gorgeous set. The set – wallpaper, carpets, and gorgeous woodwork – is completely art deco. The furniture is all period perfect, right down to the Tiffany-style lampshades and the treadle sewing machine.
Pearl Cleage is Atlanta’s first Poet Laureate and a prolific author of more than 30 plays, novels, poems and essays. Chicago’s Pearl Cleage festival, a month-long celebration honoring her distinguished career was conceived by the Goodman’s new Artistic Director Susan V. Booth, a longtime creative collaborator with Cleage. It is curated by the Goodman’s BOLD Artistic Producer, Malkia Stampley, and produced in partnership with Chicago’s famed Off-Loop companies
The Remy Bumppo production of Blues for an Alabama Sky runs through October 15th at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Avenue, Chicago. Park in Theater Wit’s lot across the street for $10 (pay at box office). Running time is 2 hours, 40 minutes, with an intermission. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 2:30 pm with additional matinees on Saturdays, September 23rd, September 28th and October 7th, all at 2:30 pm. Tickets range from $10-$52. FYI (773) 975-8150 or www.remybumppo.org.