Photos: First Look at CROWNS at Contra Costa Civic Theatre

Contra Costa Civic Theatre (CCCT) concludes its live, in-person Main Stage season with the musical Crowns by Regina Taylor, adapted from the book "Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats" by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry. Directed by Kimberly Ridgeway, with music direction by Branice McKenzie, and choreography by Jennifer Frazier and ShawnJ West, Crowns plays for 12 performances from April 22-May 15.

Called "a crazy quilt of music and movement and storytelling" by its author, Crowns celebrates the role of hats in Southern black culture, the endurance of black women in the South, and the unconquerable urge for self-expression. Filled with gospel music and dance underscore with a little hip hop added for good measure, the six women and one man of Crowns use hats to tell tales concerning everything from the etiquette of hats to their historical and contemporary social functioning. There is a hat for every occasion, from flirting to churchgoing to funerals to baptisms, and the tradition of hats is traced back to African rituals and slavery and forward to the New Testament and current fashion.

Tickets for Crowns are $40 for adults and $20 for youth up to age 16, available online at www.ccct.org. All performances take place in-person at the theatre, 951 Pomona Ave (cross street Moeser) in El Cerrito. Free parking is available in the adjoining lot and on the street.

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