MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM BY AUGUST WILSON (A READING) SHOW DATES: FEB 6 & 7 2020
In celebration of Black History Month, Fringe Theater will present a staged reading of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, on February 6 and 7 at 7:00 PM, at the William Weech American Legion Post 168, located at 803 Emma St.
The play, written in 1984 and the second installment of the Pulitzer-Prize winning author’s 10-play “American Century Cycle” collection, was a sensation. It won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best American Play and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play. In a review, The New York Times said, “Mr. Wilson has lighted a dramatic fuse that snakes and hisses …Wilson writes with compassion, raucous humor, and penetrating wisdom.”
Mixing fact with fiction, Wilson features the character of the real Ma Rainey, often referred to as the “Mother of the Blues.” Rainey was one of the first blues singers to sign a recording contract with a major label. She was a successful touring and recording artist who, in the 1920’s, was only paid $200 per record while Al Jolson — in black-face — was paid $10,000 for the same work.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is set in a recording studio in Chicago in 1927. The band has gathered to record Ma’s version of “The Black Bottom,” a popular dance of the time. Tensions arise among the band members as an ambitious young trumpet player has ideas of his own, and his demands– as well as Ma’s insistence on having things her way — set in motion an irrevocable and tragic outcome.
Wilson once said the play was filled with “…as much joy and sorrow as the blues itself.”
Fringe Theater’s reading of this American classic features Clayton Lopez, Joan Leggett, Gil Parker, Eva Parker, Jerry Ginsberg, Bob Capetta, Bob Wood, Ervin Gallo-Tumm, and Richard Quint. Quint also serves as coordinator for the production. Wilhelmina Lopez-Martin, who is reading the title role of Ma Rainey said, “I’m thrilled to be involved in the Fringe’s staging of another of August Wilson’s masterpieces. His ability to create passion and rhythm through words is extraordinary, and is a joy to read out loud.”
This production is funded, in part, through the Florida Keys Council of the Arts’ Art Builds Community Grant, an arts and culture grant that seeks to spark conversations, spur social change, and make our island community stronger. This production is also presented in partnership with the American Legion Post 168, which was built in 1951 to commemorate the African Americans killed in World War I and World War II.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom will be presented February 6 and 7, at 7pm, in the American Legion Post168. General Admission tickets are $30 and are available online at www.fringetheater.org or by calling 305-731-0581. Advanced tickets are encouraged as last year’s reading sold out both evenings. Fringe Theater is Key West’s community-focused theater. Fringe is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to creating unique opportunities for people to see and do theater. Learn more at www.fringetheater.org
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