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Blues for an Alabama Sky: From the Artistic Director

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Seattle Rep! I hope your new year is off to a promising beginning. We’re excited to kick off the second half of our 2024/25 Season with Pearl Cleage’s timely and riveting drama, Blues for an Alabama Sky. The first half of our season offered escapes from the anxieties of day-to-day life through different forms of comedy, from poetic and absurd (The Skin of Our Teeth), to quirky and heartfelt (Primary Trust), to glamorous and farcical (Blithe Spirit). Blues brings us very much back to reality, exemplifying Seattle Rep’s mission to give Pacific Northwest audiences the widest array of theatrical experiences we can create, and in ever-changing theatrical forms, settings, stories, and styles. And while humor offers one much-needed type of release, so does pathos. The human experience requires both comedy and catharsis.

It’s worth taking a moment to define that word, “catharsis.” In the context of art, it was coined over two thousand years ago by the Greek philosopher Aristotle to describe the positive feelings of relief that wash over us after we experience difficult emotions in a safe environment. Experiencing the healing effects of catharsis in community is one of the gifts of live theater. Now, as we welcome the compelling characters of Blues for an Alabama Sky to the stage and are drawn in to their hopes and plans for the future, we’ll share in the emotions and catharsis that can only come from great drama by a playwright at the top of their craft.

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Jamar Jones, Ajax Dontavius, and Ayanna Bria Bakari in rehearsal for Blues for an Alabama Sky. Photo by Sayed Alamy.

Originally premiered in 1995 by renowned playwright-novelist-poet-essayist Pearl Cleage (pronounced “Cleg”), Blues for an Alabama Sky is a new American classic; it has endured beyond its early productions to be revived frequently by a second generation of theater artists. It should be no surprise that Cleage’s work resonates with audiences and theatermakers. Her plays convey universal truths while placing the African American experience and people from historically marginalized communities at the center of the narrative. Blues for an Alabama Sky, set in 1930 during a period of cultural renaissance and economic struggle, feels particularly relevant today as we navigate a world still grappling with inequality, dreams deferred, and the enduring need for hope and connection.

Producers are certainly taking note of Cleage’s gorgeous work, which I believe warranted more attention during its first run nearly 30 years ago. Major revival productions began about a decade ago, and the play continues to receive accolades for new productions across the U.S. and a 2022 production at London’s National Theatre. In 2023, Chicago held a city-wide celebration devoted to Cleage’s plays. I hope and expect Cleage’s dynamic body of work will enter the global theater canon alongside the 10-play American Century Cycle by her contemporary August Wilson, becoming a touchstone for new generations.

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Jamar Jones, Ayanna Bria Bakari, Yusef Seevers, and Esther Okech Lewis in rehearsal for Blues for an Alabama Sky. Photo by Sayed Alamy.

At the helm of this production is the esteemed Valerie Curtis-Newton (Selling Kabul; Nina Simone: Four Women). Val’s experience as the longtime head of Directing and Playwriting at the University of Washington School of Drama, Founding Artistic Director of the local professional African American theater lab The Hansberry Project, and a freelance director with countless acclaimed credits at theaters across Seattle and the U.S. (including the upcoming production of Cleage’s great comedy The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at a Celebration of Their First One Hundred Years at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis), make her an incomparable director to guide Cleage’s Blues for an Alabama Sky to a long overdue Seattle Rep debut.

As always, I hope you’ll find yourself moved by the experience of seeing this play and inspired to return to Seattle Rep soon.


Until next time,

Dámaso Rodríguez
Artistic Director