Black Pearl Sings!
A Musical Journey
by Frank Higgins
directed by Benny Sato Ambush
January 25 – February 15, 2009
"Moving, funny and intellectually compelling, this production is one of the best anywhere so far this season."
– Houston Press
The song is the story.
In the midst of the Great Depression, Susannah Mullally travels the country, recording lost traditional songs for the Library of Congress. Hoping to find the one song that will bring her long-awaited recognition, she discovers Pearl Johnson in a Texas prison. With a soulful voice and a wealth of African-American spiritual songs, Pearl seeks information and a chance at freedom. Now each woman must decide how much of herself she is willing to give to get what she wants in return.
Running time: 2 hours and 20 minutes, including one 15 minute intermission
Click here to read Brian Rose's interview with director Benny Sato Ambush and playwright Frank Higgins from the Burlington Times-News.
Click here to listen to Bradley George's interview with Frank from 88.5 WFDD's Triad Arts Up Close.
Click here to listen to Frank Stasio's interview with Frank and Benny from 91.5 WUNC's The State of Things.
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“We see things, not as they are, but as we are.”
—Anais NinThe lens through which we often see, perceive, interpret and make judgments upon those we encounter tend to be our own. It takes an act of will and faith, fortified by liberal doses of courage and bravery, to engage with someone on their terms. That takes real work. No less than an inner transformation is required, a re-setting of one’s compass, a spiritual alchemy from a lower to a higher vibration. There is power and enchantment in the effort.
Frank Higgins’ inter-cultural, inter-racial Black Pearl Sings! is a journey of overcoming habit, seeing with new eyes, and endeavoring to understand the “other”.
No matter who you are or what your identity is, I hope this story will remind you of the interconnectedness of our wildly diverse human family. And that the real work of forming kinship is worth it.
Benny Sato Ambush
