Youngstown Playhouse to present ‘Gee’s Bend’

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Playhouse will present Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder’s play “Gee’s Bend” this weekend and next in the Moyer Room as part of the Griffith-Adler Actor’s Series.

Winner of the 2008 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award by the American Theater Critics Association, “Gee’s Bend” recreates the dynamics of a family struggling with poverty as well as segregation.

Directed by Carla D. Gipson, the play depicts the turbulent history of African-Americans in the 20th century by focusing on a single family in the real community of Gee’s Bend, Ala., which is now famous for the beautiful quilts created by the women that grew up there.

Gospel songs weave in and out of the play, which evokes memories of days when families pulled together in the face of adversity.

The cast includes Lisa Lawrence-Willliams, Danica Reed, Lea Dotson and Keith Baker.

Curtain times are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and again Nov. 18 and 19.

Because this play has quilts as a central focus, the Playhouse will present a quilt show in the lobby during the run of the production.

Patrons are welcome to come a little early and enjoy the handmade quilts that will be on display.

Mary Ruth Lynn, executive director of the Playhouse, will be demonstrating hand quilting during the pre-show exhibit.

“Quilting has been a tradition in my family for many generations, and it’s one reason this show resonated with me so strongly,” she said.