Two theatrical Afro-American experiences

We saw back-to-back two very well-done productions focusing on African-American experiences of years past. At The Lyric Stage, is Intimate Apparel, a moving play by Lynn Nottage set in the beginning of the 20th Century in New York. The heroine is Esther, beautifully played by Lindsey McWhorter, a very plain "spinster" of 35 who has come North to make a career for herself. She learned to sew and has become a successful seamstress of lingerie, with patrons fom all walks of life. What she really wants is to open a hair salon for Black women, and she has been saving diligently for this for many years. She resists the insistence of her landlady that she lower her standards to find a husband. When a surprise letter from a West Indian laborer on the Panama Canal arrives, she begins a correspondence through a wealthy but lonely patron, as Esther cannot read or write. The pen pals form a distant romance, and she agrees to marry George if he makes it to New York. Her other male contact is Mr. Marks, a religious Jew who sells her fabric. The two have a suppressed, since taboo, attraction to each other. George proves to be a manipulative cad. He romances Esther's friend Mayme, a prostitute unaware George is Esther's husband. George leaves Esther penniless, and she must begin again. All of the cast are superb and credible in their roles. Our only issues are that at over 2 hours,the play ran a bit long, and that the accents adopted made some of the dialog hard to follow. Go see it. Recounting events from some 50 years earlier was a dramatic reading of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriet Jacobs. Beautifully played at the Zeiterion by Cherita Armstrong, Harriet gave us a moving experience of what life was like for a slave in the American South in the mid 1800's. Her first mistress, a caring woman who taught Harriet to read and write, left her unprepared for the depradations of her next owner. She described her life hiding in a tiny garret space for many years before she could finaly escape to the free North. Tying Harriet's story together with the broader history of the times and the links to New Bedford were represenatives from the NB Historical Society and The American Place Theatre, who sponsored the program.