It all started with a book celebrating African-American women in their crowning glory on Sunday mornings. Now, the hit play inspired by that book, Crowns, is making a stop in St. Louis. It opened last night at the St. Louis Repertory Theater
“It crosses all boundaries,” Lory Bowman, marketing director for the Rep, said of the play.
“It’s really not a black or white show. The history and the tradition and the women it’s based on n and the book that the show originally came from n certainly have very specific reference. But the messages in the show, the love of family and wanting to pass on traditions, are certainly very universal.”
About 7 years ago, photographer Michael Cunningham decided to photograph African-American women in their favorite church hats. When writer Craig Marberry heard about Cunningham’s project, he felt that the personal stories from each woman should accompany their photograph. The two teamed up to create Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats, which was published by Doubleday in October 2000.
Combined, the photographs of African-American women of all ages and religious denominations along with their personal reflections about their lives reveal and celebrate Biblical truths and African-American traditions involving the church. The stories told by the women featured in Crowns describe issues such as faith, family and the importance of those fashionable Sunday morning hats.
Playwright Regina Taylor, best known for her Golden Globe Award-winning role as Lily Harper on the television series I’ll Fly Away, adapted the book into a successful play, which she also directed.
Taylor’s story centers on Yolanda, a young girl from Brooklyn sent to live with her grandmother down South after her brother is shot and killed. Yolanda is introduced to a whole new world where faith and fashion intermingle by her grandmother and her grandmother’s hat-wearing friends. From them, Yolanda learns more than just good fashion sense; she is inspired by the deep spiritual faith and traditions of her grandmother and her grandmother’s friends.
Since her award-winning role as Lily Harper, Taylor has been bringing the stories of other black women to life. She won the American Critics’ Association new play award for a play about black female jazz musicians in the 1940s called Oo-Bla-Dee and created and appeared in Millennium Mambo, a play based on works from several African-American female writers. Currently, she is working on a stage adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple.
Pamela Hunt directs the St. Louis production of Crowns, and Mercedes Ellington provides choreography for an all-star cast.
“We have a very dynamite cast, and we’re very anxious to show them off,” Bowman said.
The Crowns cast features Denise M. Thimes as Mother Shaw and Erin Cherry as Yolanda. Other cast members are Gayle Samuels, Jannie Jones, Darryl Reuben Hall, Chaundra Cameron, and Stacie Precia. Ashanti Johnson and Kathy Wade are understudies for Crowns.
St. Louis native Denise M. Thimes is a sought-after singer and actress and daughter of local jazz musician Lou “Fatha” Thimes. She has received Woody Awards for Best Supporting Actress and Outstanding Musical Performance.
Tim Carpenter provides musical direction for Crowns. The creative staff also includes scenic director Hugh Landwehr, costume designer Reggie Ray, lighting designer Phil Monat, stage manager Glenn Dunn and assistant stage manager Tony Dearing.
A free half-hour post-production discussion with cast and staff will be held following the matinee performances on March 23 and April 6 and the evening performances March 24 and March 31. Crowns is sponsored by Anheuser-Busch Companies
Tickets are available for purchase online at HYPERLINK “http://www.repstl.org/”www.repstl.org or by calling 968-4925. Crowns plays at the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts, 130 Edgar Rd. in Webster Groves.
Crowns, the last show of the Rep’s season, runs through April 15.
