BLUES FOR AN ALABAMA SKY Comes to Actor's Express This Month

Actor’s Express will continue its 36th season with Blues For An Alabama Sky by Pearl Cleage. Amid the creative swirl of the Harlem Renaissance, a close-knit group of friends find themselves at a crossroads. Angel, a recently fired and newly single Cotton Club singer, is faced with choosing between a Parisian life of adventure with her costume designer friend Guy and a stable marriage with Leland, a suitor who has just arrived in New York from down south. Little does she know that her decision will have shocking consequences and change the lives of everyone around her forever. 

Blues For An Alabama Sky was originally commissioned by the Alliance Theatre and had its world premiere there in 1995. Variety Magazine praised Cleage’s work for “its glowing hallmark throughout is its ability to keep audiences basking in its warmth.” Blues For An Alabama Sky has been performed across the United States and beyond at such prestigious theatres as Center Theatre Group, Guthrie Theatre and The National Theatre in London. 

This ensemble cast features Tiffany Denise Hobbs (Theatre: Broadway’s Waitress, Lion King- National Tour, New York Shakespeare in the Park’s Much Ado About Nothing; Television: Atlanta, Haunting of Hill House, Ozark), Christopher Hampton (Horizon’s Kim’s Convenience, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime), Jontavious Johnson (Marietta Theatre in the Square’s A Raisin in the Sun, In The Red and Brown Water, Alliance Theatre’s Hot Wing King), Kenisha Johnson (Theatrical Outfit’s Flex) and AE vet Damian Lockhart (BootyCandy, Father Comes Home from the Wars Parts 1, 2 and 3).

According to Artistic Director Freddie Ashley, “When planning the current season, we were on the hunt for a modern American classic that would resonate with our audiences today. We thought of Blues for an Alabama Sky in part because Pearl Cleage’s extraordinary writing never goes out of style and also in part because her work resonates so uniquely with Atlanta audiences. And given the thoughtfully and poetically observed nature of Pearl’s writing, I knew that it would be an ideal project for Amanda Washington to helm because of her warmth, fresh ideas and her own unique way of finding poetry everywhere.”

 

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