September 22–October 16
Crowns
I’d lend my children before I’d lend my hat. My children know their way home! — Crowns
City Theatre is thrilled to open its 2005–06 season with Crowns, Regina Taylor’s glorious play with music celebrating the history and spirit of African American women and their fabulous hats. Crowns runs on City Theatre’s 272-seat mainstage from September 22 to October 16, 2005. Crowns is directed by Timothy Douglas (Sorrows and Rejoicings and Shakespeare’s R&J at City Theatre), who this year directed the world premiere of August Wilson’s Radio Golf at Yale Repertory Theatre.
Audiences across the country having been flipping their lids for Crowns, based on the bestselling book Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats by photographer Michael Cunningham and essayist Craig Marberry. In Regina Taylor’s highly theatrical adaptation a cast of seven (plus two onstage musicians) tell lively and moving stories, sing traditional spirituals and gospel songs, and model jubilant and fashionable hats. Taylor’s story centers on Yolanda, a girl from Brooklyn whose favorite kind of hat is a baseball cap worn backwards. After her brother is killed, Yolanda’s mother sends her down South to live with her grandmother. There Yolanda encounters the rituals of preparing for and going to Sunday church service, and begins to find connections to older traditions and deeper spirituality.
This visually stunning production also answers many questions about hat etiquette: the way to hug someone wearing a large-brim hat, how to choose proper hat dimensions, and most important, how to live life with hattitude.
City Theatre’s production of Crowns includes local favorites Maria Becoates Bey (Ghetto Superstar: The Man That I Am and Constant Star at City Theatre), Etta Cox (Constant Star at City Theatre), Garbie Dukes (Gompers at City Theatre), Linda Haston, and Carnegie Mellon student Khaliah Adams. Coming to Pittsburgh for the production are actresses Inga Ballard and Avery Sommers. Thomas Wesley Douglas is Music Supervisor with Cliff Barnes serving as Music Director and accompanist and James T. Johnson III (Ghetto Superstar: The Man That I Am) as percussionist. The design team includes Tony Ferrieri (scenic design), Lap Chi Chu (lighting design), Susan Tsu (costume design), Joe Pino (sound design), and Greer A. Reed (choreographer).
About the Playwright
Regina Taylor is best known for her portrayal of Lilly Harper in the television drama
series I’ll Fly Away, which earned her the Golden Globe Award for Best Leading
Dramatic Actress, an NAACP Image Award, and an Emmy nomination. Her other film and television
credits include The Negotiator, Courage Under Fire, A Family Thing,
Losing Isaiah, Clockers, Lean on Me, The Education of Max
Bickford, and Cora Unashamed. Her Broadway credits include Romeo and Juliet,
As You Like It, and Macbeth. Off-Broadway she has appeared in Machinal,
Map of the World, The Illusion, Dr. Faustus, The Tempest
(for which she won a Drama-Logue Award), Jar the Floor, and both the New York and Los
Angeles companies of The Vagina Monologues. Taylor won the American Critics’
Association new play award for Oo-Bla-Dee. Her other writing credits include Drowning
Crow, A Night in Tunisia, Escape from Paradise, Watermelon Rinds,
Inside the Belly of the Beast, Mudtracks, Between the Lines, and
Behind Every Good Man.
Preview Week Performance Schedule
Thurs. & Fri. Sept. 22 & 23 at 8 pm
Sat. Sept. 24 at 5:30 pm
Sun. Sept. 25 & Tues. Sept. 27 at 7 pm
Press/Opening Night is Weds., Sept. 28 at 8 pm.
Regular Run Schedule
Tues. at 7 pm
Weds. thru Fri. at 8 pm
Sat. at 5:30 & 9 pm
Sun. at 2 pm
Tickets
$15 to $40
Students and age 25 and younger can reserve $15 tickets in advance.
Senior rush (age 60 and older) begins at the Box Office 2 hours before showtime.