SpeakEasy Stage Company to Present THE COLOR PURPLE, 1/10-2/8

From January 10 - February 8, 2014, SpeakEasy Stage Company will present THE COLOR PURPLE, the acclaimed Broadway musical based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker and the Warner Bros./Amblin Entertainment motion picture.

Featuring a book by Marsha Norman, and music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray, this sweeping saga tells the story of Celie, a young African-American woman living in rural Georgia in the early 1900s who overcomes tremendous odds to discover her own unique voice.

Roxbury, MA native and rhythm and blues recording artist Lovely Hoffman will portray Celie in the SpeakEasy production. A teacher at Smith Leadership Academy in Dorchester by day, Ms. Hoffman has also toured with Grammy Award-winning artist T-Pain and performed alongside such R&B artists as Ne-Yo, Jaheim, and Dennis Edwards of The Temptations. Her local theatre credits include Little Shop of Horrors (New Repertory Theatre), Ain't Misbehavin' (Lyric Stage Company), Ragtime (Emerson Umbrella), Sunfish (Stoneham Theatre), and Hairspray (Reagle Music Theatre).

Also featured in the cast are Anich D'Jae (Squeak), JarEd Dixon (Harpo), Crystin Gilmore (Shug Avery), Valerie Houston (Sofia), Maurice Emmanuel Parent (Mister), and Aubin Wise (Nettie).

The ensemble features Jye'l Ancrum; Kymyra J. Anderson-Wolf; Kira Cowan; Matthews D; Akiah Doyle; Xikiyah Firmin; Terrell Foster-James; Alia Hodge; David Jiles, Jr., Jaime Mclaurin; Cliff Odle; Deborah Pierre; Aaron Michael Ray; Carolyn Saxon; Kelton Washington; and Taylor Washington.

Two-time Norton Award winner Paul Daigneault, SpeakEasy's Founder and Producing Artistic Director, will direct this production, which will feature choreography by Christian Bufford and music direction by Nicholas James Connell.

The design team includes Jenna McFarland Lord (scenic), Karen Perlow & Eric Fox (lighting), Elisabetta Polito (costumes), David Reiffel (sound), and Megan F. Kinneen (props).

The Production Stage Manager is Tareena D. Wimbish. The Assistant Stage Manager is

Phyllis Y. Smith.

THE COLOR PURPLE will run for five weeks, from January 10 through February 8 in the Virginia Wimberly Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street in Boston's South End.

Tickets start at $25. For tickets or more information, the public is invited to call 617.933.8600 or visit www.SpeakEasyStage.com.

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