COLORED SILK: A Civil War Odyssey To Open At The Players Theatre In November

Tami Tyree's play Colored Silk: A Civil War Odyssey tells the story of Elizabeth Keckley, dressmaker for Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. Colored Silk will have a limited engagement at The Players Theatre in the West Village of NYC starting November 2nd.

Mrs. Keckley gained national prominence and wrote a narrative Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years A Slave, Or Four Years in the White House (1868). Elizabeth Keckley (1818-1907) is America's first black fashion designer. Born into slavery, she came into the world with little opportunity; a trajectory experienced by thousands like her. With triumphant self-emancipation and ascendance to the Nation's Capital she's remembered as an outstanding dressmaker, entrepreneur, and Freedman's Activist. Elizabeth Keckley's gowns are exemplary of the designer's fortitude, passion, intellect and skill which surpassed the obstacles of her human condition

In Colored Silk Elizabeth's character-not fashion-shines brightest. Ms. Tyree portrays "Lizzie" as a mother fighting for a better life for her child while overcoming the "odyssey" of sexual trauma, enslavement, and "the war between the states." Essentially a solo work, Frederick Douglass figures prominently in her storytelling and Andrew Horton and Laura Bowman read letters in the National Archives from a black Civil War Soldier and a mother of a soldier fighting in the Massachusetts 54th (an all-black regiment). The play concludes with a rendition of a Negro Spiritual by either Mr. Horton or jazz vocalist Ras Chemash Lamed (select nights).

Colored Silk: A Civil War Odyssey by Tami Tyree
Directed by Ray Achan
The Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street, NYC
November 2-19, 2023
Run time: 1hr. 40 minutes, no intermission
Thursday-Friday-Saturday 7 pm Sunday 2 pm includes 15-minute talkback with audience
All seats $40.00 with code DRESSY1
Tickets: www.theplayerstheatre.com

For more information: Tami Tyree Echoes of Our Ancestors African American History & Song https://tamiechoesofourancestors.com

Performances are also made possible with funds from The Puffin Foundation.

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