By Jody Tuso-Key; Managing Editor

Actor’s Express is currently offering a work by Atlanta’s favorite playwright, Pearl Cleage, BLUES FOR AN ALABAMA SKY, a historic study of humanity that parallels today’s issues.

The incomparable Pearl Cleage is, in this author’s estimation, the modern-day equivalent of William Shakespeare. While she writes in prose, her words are nevertheless poetic. While she is a master at period pieces, her writing is real, raw, and relevant. As Freddie Ashley, artistic director of Actor’s Express puts it in his program note, ‘Pearl’s writing demonstrates deep insight into the human condition along with great compassion for it. Her characters aren’t simply agents of action, as Aristotle defined them but exemplars of the complexities of living in the world. And the words they speak create a beautiful kind of poetry while rooted in real-life vernacular. There is a dignity and elegance in her writing and it always finds a path to the heart, where it lands with deep and lasting resonance.’

Several lines stood out to me: ‘I don’t want to work so hard on the body that I forget about the soul’; ‘We still see our best hope in the future of our children’; ‘Alabama is not just a state, it’s a state of mind’; ‘Everybody’s gotta kill their own snakes’; and my personal favorite, ‘All sorry can do is sit there. It can never make it right.’

BLUES FOR AN ALABAMA SKY was originally commissioned and directed by Kenny Leon at Alliance Theatre. It has since had a successful run at the National Theatre in London. This time, the show takes place in the most versatile space in Atlanta. When you enter the space of Actor’s Express, you never know what to expect. What we find is a diagonal set with the audience flanking on two sides. Due to the convertible stadium seating, there is never a bad seat in the house, but if you are picky, arrive early as seating is first-come, first-served. Scenic designer Seamus M Bourne has imagined to life a static set of two apartments divided by a tile hallway down the center. In one apartment there is a sewing machine, table and chairs, and a chaise lounge. The other has a modest table and chairs. Both apartments have a sideboard to represent a kitchen area, and a door leading offstage to a bedroom. The set is simple and functional. The apartment of Guy and Angel also has an alcove which represents a window. The open set design allows for unobstructed views from every seat.

In this production, Pearl has woven a tale about five characters living in Harlem in 1930, where the Renaissance meets the great depression. Angel (Tiffany Denise Hobbes) is a performer in a nightclub owned by an Italian mobster and enters tipsy in a ‘celebration’ of her freedom as she was recently fired–she’s too tipsy to be upset, and instead feel’s she is celebrating. Angel is accompanied to her front door by her cousin, Guy (Damian Lockhart) whom she also calls ‘Big Daddy’. Guy is a costume designer whose major preoccupation is designing costumes for Josephine Baker (being a Josephine myself, I grew up admiring her as there are few Joesphines in the world). Along with Guy, a stranger from Alabama called Leland (Jontavious Johnson) helps escort Angel to the door. Leland later calls on Angel and becomes a major love interest and coming from a more conservative Alabama, becomes a major catalyst against the more liberal ideas of folks from Harlem. We are also introduced to Sam (Christopher Hampton) who is a doctor with a penchant for the drink. His cure for a hangover is a mix of ‘the hair of the dog’ and some mystery pills.

Living across the hall from Angel and Guy is Delia (Kanisha Johnson) who is a social worker and advocate for a planned parenthood clinic in the area. This concept of sex education was initiated in 1916 in Brooklyn by Margaret Sanger, so was a fairly new and not widely accepted concept in more conservative areas of the country. It has since become controversial due to the abortion debate, however; abortion is only one facet of the work of Planned Parenthood.

Every good story has an insightful plot, and this story encompasses a plot with two subplots — Angel’s plight and love affair with Leland, Guy’s pursuit of Josephine Baker accepting his costumes and his hope to move to Paris, and Delia and Sam’s efforts to open Planned Parenthood, which drives the story and is the causality of the main conflict, climate, and resolution.

As far as the performers are concerned, each of the 5 parts has been perfectly cast, and each performer did an excellent job of portraying their character. While this is a show with very serious subject matter, it is also very funny and the comedic timing was some of the best I’ve ever seen. My personal favorite character was Guy played by Damian Lockhart. He delivered some of the best lines in the show with impeccable timing. I love that even amid hard times, he was able to hope and dream enough to see his dreams become reality.

Blues for An Alabama Sky is a Speakeysie is another Pearl Cleage masterpiece and is Speakeysie Highly Recommended. BRAVO to the entire cast and crew! The show runs until June 23rd. Get your tickets before they sell out at Actor’s Express.