CORETTA: PROMISE TO THE DREAM Plays Through 2/23 at Southampton Cultural Center

Even the brutal weather has not stopped producers from making their way out to Southampton where award winning writer/ director/ actor Tina Andrews' one woman show Coretta: Promise to the Dream based on the life of Coretta Scott King. Thanks to a glowing piece by Newsday and high praise from local press, Andrews, well known on the national theater scene, has spiked the attention of both commercial producers and the top not -for - profit regional theaters.

Ms. Andrews' play chronicles the life of Coretta Scott King, widow of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, and her struggle to continue "His Dream" after his assassination. It dramatizes utilizing photos, video and trial transcripts Mrs. King's determination and promise to make Dr. King's birthday a national holiday, and to prove who his true killer was in a civil trial which she won in 1999. Ms. Andrews has written, directed and stars in the compelling work.

Ms. Andrews received a 1999 nomination at the Acapulco Black Film Festival for Best Screenplay, for the 1998 movie Why Do Fools Fall in Love.

In 2001, she became the first African American to win the Writers Guild of America award for Original Long Form, for writing the 2000 miniseries Sally Hemings: An American Scandal. Her win was tied with Phil Alden Robinson and Stanley Weiser for the 2000 movie Freedom Song.

The miniseries also earned Andrews the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding TV Movie, Miniseries or Special, that same year. She also won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Achievement in Literary Nonfiction and the Literary Award of Excellence from the Black Writers Conference in Memphis in 2002, for her book Sally Hemings: An American Scandal: The Struggle to Tell the Controversial Truth. Ms. Andrews is also the recipient of the 2003 MIB/Prism Filmmaker Image Award and also received a proclamation from the City Council of New York in 2003.

Coretta: Promise To The Dream runs through February 23, 2014
Thursdays at 7:30 PM, Fridays & Saturdays at 8 PM & Sundays at 2:30 PM

General Admission: $ 22; Students under 21 with ID $ 12; seniors $ 20 on Fridays only.

The Southampton Cultural Center, Levitas Center for the Arts is located at 25 Pond Lane, Southampton, NY 11968.

Photo by Thomas Wheeler