JUBILEE THEATRE IS PROUD TO PRESENT CROWNS
FORT WORTH, TX - Jubilee Theatre continues its 2007-2008 season with Crowns a gospel musical by Dallas native Regina Taylor. This musical play has an unusual source for a dramatic work: an inspired collection of photographs and personal stories published in the best selling book Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats written by Craig Marberry and illustrated by photographer Michael Cunningham. The book is based on the stories of African-American women from South Carolina and their crowns: the beautiful hats that they wear to church every Sunday. Taylor received the Helen Hayes and Audelco Awards for Crowns, which first was produced at the McCarter Theatre Center and Second Stage.
Regina Taylor’s play centers around Yolanda, a young and proud woman from Brooklyn, New York. After a family tragedy, Yolanda is sent to South Carolina to live with her grandmother. In South Carolina, she is warmly received into a circle of women. Through the history, music, and aesthetics imported by her elders, Yolanda discovers that self-expression and acceptance by her community are not mutually exclusive values.
Directed by Ed Smith with musical direction by Joe Rogers, Crowns features a cast of Sheran Goodspeed Keyton, Carol Markes, Dawn Miller, Cedric Neal, Michele Rene, and Dee Smith. Designers include set design by Judd Vermillion, lighting design by Roma Flowers, and wardrobe by Derrick Farrow.
Crowns previews March 21, 22, and 27; the show opens March 28; and the show runs March 29 through April 20, 2008. Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 3 p.m. Preview performance tickets are $10; tickets range from $16 to $25 for the run of the production. Tickets can be purchased from the Jubilee Theatre Box Office by calling 817-338-4411 Tuesday through Friday between noon and 6 p.m. or online by visiting the Jubilee website: jubileetheatre.org.
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Bios
Regina Taylor - Playwright - Ms. Taylor received Helen Hayes and Audelco Awards for Crowns, which was first produced at the McCarter Theatre Center and Second Stage. She is an artistic associate at The Goodman Theatre, which originally produced Drowning Crow, Ms. Taylor’s adaptation of Chekov’s The Seagull (produced by Manhattan Theatre Club on Broadway). Her play The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove, premiered at Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and opened at The Goodman Theatre in June of 2005. Ms. Taylor was the resident playwright at the Alliance Theatre and developed a play based on Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard set in Atlanta in 1962 entitled Magnolia. Other plays include Oobladee (Critics Circle Award); Watermelon Rinds (Humana Festival); Inside the Belly of the Beast (The Goodman Theatre); Urban Zulu Mambo (Signature Theatre); Escape from Paradise (Circle Repertory Theatre); A Night in Tunisia (Alabama Shakespeare Festival). Her acting credits include Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Celia in As You Like It, on Broadway, and numerous roles off-Broadway and at regional theatres. Film credits include Clockers, Losing Isaiah, Lean on Me, A Family Thing, Courage Under Fire and The Negotiator. For her role as Lilly Harper on the television series I’ll Fly Away, she won an NAACP Image Award, a Golden Globe Award, and was nominated for an Emmy.
Michael Cunningham – Author & Photographer - Mr. Cunningham is a commercial photographer whose clients include Coca-Cola and Sara Lee. Two of his photographs are currently on loan to the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Museum, and his works have been featured in the New York Times and Ebony. He lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Craig Marberry – Author - Mr. Marberry, a former TV reporter, holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and is the owner of a video production company. He has written articles for the Washington Post and Essence magazine. Marberry is also the grandson of the late Louis Henry Ford, former Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ. He lives in Greensboro, North Carolina.
