Blues for an Alabama Sky

By: Pearl Cleage

DIRECTED BY: D Norris*

Image: logo for Blues for an Alabama Sky. Golden yellow background with Blue circle that says Blues for an Alabama sky. Yellow light coming out of the circle illuminating a drawing of a black woman standing at an old time microphone. Under the picture is by Pearl Cleage in block lettering and other words at the bottom too small to read. It is the summer of 1930 in Harlem, New York. The creative euphoria of the Harlem Renaissance has given way to the harsher realities of the Great Depression. Young Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., is feeding the hungry and preaching an activist gospel at Abyssinian Baptist Church. Black Nationalist visionary Marcus Garvey has been discredited and deported. Birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger is opening a new family planning clinic on 126th Street, and the doctors at Harlem Hospital are scrambling to care for a population whose most deadly disease is poverty. The play brings together a rich cast of characters who reflect the conflicting currents of the time through their overlapping personalities and politics. Set in the Harlem apartment of Guy, a popular costume designer, and his friend, Angel, a recently fired Cotton Club back-up singer, the cast also includes Sam, a hard-working, jazz-loving doctor at Harlem Hospital; Delia, an equally dedicated member of the staff at the Sanger clinic; and Leland, a recent transplant from Tuskegee, who sees in Angel a memory of lost love and a reminder of those “Alabama skies where the stars are so thick it’s bright as day.” Invoking the image of African-American expatriate extraordinaire, Josephine Baker as both muse and myth, Cleage’s characters struggle, as Guy says, “to look beyond 125th Street” for the fulfillment of their dreams.

Recommended for: Ages 16+ due to adult content and violence. There is mild, infrequent adult language. (Why did it get this rating?)

Dates: January 18-February 2, 2019.
Location: Belfry Playhouse (downstairs at Norcross Presbyterian Church
3324 Medlock Bridge Rd
Norcross GA

Cast

Angel: Sherna Phillips^
Leland: Jonathan McCullum^
Guy: Andre Eaton Jr*
Sam: Rodney Johnson
Delia: Marita McKee^
Understudy: Armanio Colé^
Understudy: Corliss Hambrick^

Black and white headshot for Sherna Phillips. Black female with short hair.Black and white headshot for Jonathan McCullum. Black male with short hair and a mustache.Black and white headshot for Andre Eaton Jr. Black male with curly black hair and a mustache.Black and white headshot for Rodney Johnson. Black male with very short hair.Black and white headshot for Marita McKee. Black female with hair pulled back away from the face.Black and white headshot for Armanio Co Lay. Black male with very short hair and a mustache.

 

 

Black and white headshot for Corliss Hambrick. Black female with long hair.

 

 

 

 

 

Creative Team

Playwright: Pearl Cleage^
Producer: Lee Jones
Director: D Norris*
Assistant Director: Becca Parker*
Stage Manager: Corliss Hambrick
Assistant Stage Manager:
Set Design: Becca Parker*
Costume Design: Jordan Hermitt*
Lighting Design: Becca Parker*
Sound Design: D Norris* & Becca Parker*
Properties: Bethany Oliver*
Program/Publicity: Mere Jones
House Manager:
Box Office Manager:

Black and white headshot for Pearl Cleage. Black female with very short hair.Black and white headshot for Lee Jones. White male with short gray hair.Black and white headshot for D Norris. Black male wearing a baseball cap.Black and white headshot for Becca Parker. White female with long hair wearing glasses. Black and white headshot for Jordan Hermitt. Black female with long hair in braids. Black and white headshot for Bethany Oliver. White female with shoulder length hair.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Indicates current or previous LAT Pro Company member
+Indicates member of LAT Intensive Program
^LAT Debut