True Colors' 17th Season Celebrates Black Women Storytellers

Incoming Artistic Director Jamil Jude and True Colors Theatre Company are thrilled to announce the 2019 - 2020 season, dubbed "She Griots." The three productions of this 17th season focus on strong women playwrights, storytellers, historians and leaders of various generations. The season opens in September, when True Colors will conclude Dominique Morisseau's The Detroit Project Trilogy with Paradise Blue. In past seasons, True Colors has produced the two other plays in the trilogy, Detroit '67 and Skeleton Crew. Set in 1949, Paradise Blue explores a jazz club in Detroit's Black Bottom, a neighborhood on the verge of urban renewal and radical change. February 2020 brings Jocelyn Bioh'scomedic hit School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play to the stage. This production follows a group of young women at a Ghanaian boarding school vying to participate in the Miss Ghana Pageant and ultimately, the Miss Global Universe Pageant. The season closes with George Brant's Marie & Rosetta, a play with music that tells the story of Sister Rosetta Tharpe and her protégée Marie Knight, as they develop the relationship that led them to become a dynamic singing duo.

The West-African Griot, or storyteller, holds the stories of a people and preserves their culture and traditions. As the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade ripped people from their native lands and brought about a mix of disparate people, the griot helped to unite the stories of displaced communities and helped to preserve their heritage. She Griots is a celebration of Black women who uphold our family traditions. These women are our sisters, aunts, and mothers who share stories of strength and empowerment, instilling in us our history, informing us of who we are, and encouraging change and success for the future.

"In dedicating this season to these griots-these Black women-we seek to respond to a gap in the American Theatre where women are woefully underrepresented, with Black women making up an even smaller percentage," shared Jamil Jude. "We are choosing to honor the work of the 'sheroes' in our community and the artists who have shouted our songs and shared our stories to edify the world. We hope to shine the light on several designers, directors, musicians, actors, and creatives whose work is often overlooked as a means of active resistance to the idea that these artists don't exist. We believe that this season's offerings further our vision - to be a theater that thrives at the nexus of artistic excellence and civic engagement."

Jude is referring to a study conducted by the Dramatist's Guild and the Lilly Awards, which found that only 3.4 percent of plays on American stages are written by women of color. This season, True Colors will celebrate Black women storytellers. Each play in the 2019-2020 season will be written by Black women or will feature all-Black women casts. In 2020, the year of Jubilee, all True Colors-produced plays will feature a Black woman director and all-Black women casts, with Marie and Rosetta featuring an all-Black women artistic design team.

Tickets and Season Subscriptions are available now at our website - www.truecolorstheatre.org. You may also call the box office at 1.888.479.6300. For Group Sales, please contact our Group Sales department at 404.523.1901 ext. 201. Single tickets will go on sale on June 1st.