MARY SPEAKS to Tell Story of African-American Mothers and Sons in One Woman Show

Theater for the New City Executive Director Crystal Field is presenting Mary Speaks, a new one-woman show that looks at African- American mothers and sons facing tragedy from Emmett Till to today.

The one-woman show written and performed by Angela Polite and directed by Christopher Burris presents Mary as an African American woman.

It shows us her many ensuing incarnations as African-American mothers who face the loss or near loss of their sons in the United States.

Performances of Mary Speaks are Feb 16-26 Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 3 p.m. Tickets are $18 at Tix.

Just as Hamilton presents history with diversity, Mary Speaks gives a voice to African-American mothers through history and looks at a spiritual lineage stretching from one of the most famous figures in the New Testament.

"Mary Speaks takes the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and uses it to explore the history of black mothers and the loss of their sons," Polite says. "Mother Mary becomes a prototype for the struggle of black mothers to raise and keep their sons alive in a society where his very existence is seen as a threat."

The show points to the parallels between the story of Jesus Christ and many innocent African-American boys and men whose lives have been lost.

"So there is the cross which symbolizes the death of Christ and then there is the lynching tree a symbol of death for black men in this country. Mary Speaks was inspired by the recent rash of killings of unarmed black men and pays homage to those whose names we don't know." Polite says. "As I watched the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner and countless others in the news, I kept saying to myself, 'These women are all like Mary.'"

The one woman show presents Mary not just as metaphor, but seeks to imagine or re-imagine her as a real person at different moments in history when mothers face loss.

"I play her as an African-American woman," Polite says. "This is the story of Mary told through the African-American experience, from the 1900s ,coming out of slavery, into the lynching years, the thirties, the fifties and the sixties. We see Mary as these different women throughout the timeline of the African-American experience."

Mary Speaks, Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. (9th-10th Sts.), New York, NY. Feb 16-26 Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 3 p.m. Tickets $18 at www.theaterforthenewcity.net, 212-254-1109 or by clicking Tix.