Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company has released first look images and a sneak peek of its upcoming production of Christina Ham‘s Nina Simone: Four Women. The play with music opens September 25-October 21 at the Southwest Arts Center.
September 16, 1963. The day after the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama led Nina Simone to shift her career from artist to artist-activist as she believed, “An artist’s responsibility is to reflect the times.” Nina Simone: Four Women uses the framework of one of her most blistering songs “Four Women” to give voice to a group of women who suffered from self-hatred due to the different hues of their skin: Aunt Sarah, Sephronia, Sweet Thing, and Peaches.
The show features the amazing talents of Jordan Frazier, Adrienne Reynolds, Regina Marie Williams and Wendy Fox Williams. Michele Shay serves as the show’s director.
Nina Simone: Four Women also includes some of Simone’s other popular Civil Rights anthems such as “Mississippi Goddam,” “Go Limp,” and “Young, Gifted, and Black.”
