Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Feb 24-25, Mar 2-4, 9-11 at 8pm;
Mar 5 at 2pm

By August Wilson.

Ambition and art collide with the business of the blues in this red hot play filled with music that made the ’20s roar. Blues and jazz music may be pervading the streets of 1927 Chicago, but inside this Paramount studio it is a little too quiet. Ma Rainey, the Mother of The Blues herself, is late to her own recording session. Her producers are frantic, the band is bored, and her trumpeter Levee won’t stop talking about his new shoes.

This is the play that initiated Wilson’s famous ten-play cycle which chronicled the African American experience in each decade of the 20th Century. Don’t miss this riveting masterpiece by one of America’s foremost playwrights!

The cast and crew of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom will host a talkback informal discussion with the audience after the performance on March 5.

The Ma Rainey Cast includes a host of local actors including:

• Cantrella Canady as Ma Rainey
• Curt Sheard as Cutler
• Roosevelt Stewart as Levee
• Cicero McCarter III as Slow Drag
• Elvis Mortley as Toledo
• Charlie Sloin as Irvin
• Patrick Day as Sturdyvant
• Shaunte Manuel as Dussie Mae
• Vladimy Bellefleur as Sylvester
• Austin Harn as police officer