Photos: First Look At UNFINISHED WOMEN At Camden Rep For Black History Month
Unfinished Women is the perfect fit for Camden Rep, a professional company that uses the performing arts as social activism to encourage, heal and transform lives.
Camden Repertory Theater celebrates Black History Month with an immersive production of Aishah Rahman's rarely produced underground classic Unfinished Women Cry In No Man's Land While A Bird Dies In A Gilded Cage, directed by Chyna Michele and featuring music direction by JoJo Streater. Boasting a live jazz band and presented in Camden Rep's unique venue - a typical New Jersey row house with only 20 seats - performances kick off with two press previews on Wednesday, Feb. 8 and Thursday, Feb. 9. Opening night is set for Friday, Feb. 10.
March 12, 1955: on the same day that virtuoso jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker (Ozzie Jones) is dying in the plush boudoir of his wealthy European patroness (Jenna McLaughlin), five teens living in the Hide-a-Wee Home for Unwed Mothers - Wilma (Jalynn Brunson), Midge (McLaughlin), Mattie (J'Lynn Henry), Consuelo (Shaleah Navarro) and Paulette (Alani Burke) - must decide whether to keep their babies or put them up for adoption. Meanwhile, Hide-a-Wee head nurse Jacobs (Desi P. Shelton) holds a closely guarded secret of her own, and the mysterious Charlie Chan (Samir Nichols) oversees all.
Mixing poetry and live music into a rich tapestry of longing and love, Unfinished Women possesses a rare and haunting lyricism not soon forgotten. As in Rahman's other work, jazz, rhythm and meter are integral to the structure and flow of the piece.
"My plays are about men and women whose voices, and therefore their lives, have been muted," she said in an interview. "Their body beats are music, whether it's in the way they speak, move, or in their world view. It's in the improvisational way they have been forced to deal with life. My characters are not linear folks. There's poetry and rhythm in their speech, and it all amounts to music."
Born in Harlem where she was raised in the foster care system, Rahman was known for her participation and contribution to the Black Arts movement, one of the only American literary movements to merge art with a political agenda. As the artistic and aesthetic arm of the Black Power movement of the '60s and '70s, it called for the creation of poetry, novels, visual art and theater to reflect pride in Black history and culture as a means to awaken Black consciousness and achieve liberation.
Unfinished Women is the perfect fit for Camden Rep, a professional company that uses the performing arts as social activism to encourage, heal and transform lives. It was founded by Desi P. Shelton in 2005 when, returning to the city with an M.F.A. in theater from Sarah Lawrence College, she heard her friends and neighbors complain they were not welcome at local venues, had no artistic outlet in Camden, and that their stories were being left untold. In addition to producing plays, the company uses theater to improve life and literature skills of at-risk children through its P.A.C.E. (Preparing Artists for College Entrance) program, which helps students prepare for college auditions; assists with the application and financial aid process; offers supplementary education in written language, cultural, financial, emotional and social literacy; and creates jobs and apprentice training for returning college students. Shelton has received the Valentine Foundation Award for female executives and is a Dodge Emerging Leader. She completed the Woman and Power Program at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and is a recipient of a Leeway Transformation Award for social change artists.
Unfinished Women was originally produced by Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival in 1977.
Rahman's other plays include The Mojo And The Sayso, Only in America,Chiaroscuro and three plays with music, Lady Day A Musical Tragedy, The Tale of Madame Zora and Has Anybody Seen Marie Laveau? Her plays were produced at the Public Theater, Ensemble Theatre, BAM and theaters and universities across the United States. She served as director of playwriting at the New Federal Theater in New York. Among her numerous fellowships, grants and awards were a special citation from the Rockefeller Foundation of the Arts for dedication to playwriting in the American Theater. Her plays are distributed by Broadway Play Publishing. "Chewed Water: A Memoir," her story of growing in the foster care system, was published in 2001 by University of New England Press. A graduate of Howard University and Goddard College, Rahman was a Professor of Literary Arts at Brown University, where she taught from 1992-2011. She died in 2014 at the age of 78.
The creative team for Unfinished Women includes scenic designer Charletta Jones and costume designer Nala Johnson. The lighting designer is Angelique Haynesworth, who also associate produces. Christopher Thompson is the production stage manager. Camden Repertory Theater is supported, in part, by the William Penn Foundation and the Geraldine Dodge Foundation.
Performances of Unfinished Women Cry In No Man's Land While A Bird Dies In A Gilded Cage take place on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 5 p.m. through February 25. All tickets are $20.
Camden Repertory Theater is located at 445 Mechanic St. in Camden, NJ 08104. To purchase tickets to Unfinished Women Cry In No Man's Land While A Bird Dies In A Gilded Cage, call (856) 438-8430 or visit www.camdenrep.com.
Photo Credit: Kamile Kuntz Photography
Alani Burke, Shaleah Navarro, J'lynn Henry
Shaleah Navarro, Jalynn Brunson, Alani Burke, J'lynn Henry, Desi P. Shelton, Samir Nichols
Shaleah Navarro, Jalynn Brunson, Alani Burke, J'lynn Henry, Desi P. Shelton, Samir Nichols
Jenna McLaughlin and Ozzie Jones
Ensemble
Alani Burke and Desi P. Shelton
J'lynn Henry
Desi P. Shelton
Alani Burke, J'lynn Henry, Jalynn Brunson and Jenna McLaughlin
Jalynn Brunson and Samir Nichols
Jenna McLaughlin and Ozzie Jones
Jalynn Brunson, Alani Burke, J'lynn Henry and Desi P. Shelton
J'lynn Henry and Jenna McLaughlin
Desi P. Shelton
Desi P. Shelton
Samir Nichols and Ozzie Jones
Jalynn Brunson and Samir Nichols
Shaleah Navarro, Jenna McLaughlin, Alani Burke and J'lynn Henry
Shaleah Navarro, Jenna McLaughlin, Alani Burke and J'lynn Henry
Ozzie Jones
Samir Nichols, Ozzie Jones, Jenna McLaughlin
Shaleah Navarro, Alani Burke, J'lynn Henry
Jalynn Brunson
Jalynn Brunson and Alani Burke
Join Team BroadwayWorld
Are you an avid theatergoer in Philadelphia? We're looking for people like you to share your thoughts and insights with our readers. Team BroadwayWorld members get access to shows to review, conduct interviews with artists, and the opportunity to meet and network with fellow theatre lovers and arts workers.
Interested? Learn more here.
More Hot Stories For You

March 24, 2023
EgoPo's 2022-2023 Harlem Renaissance Season, co-presented with Theatre in the X, will close with the world premiere theatrical staging of Jessie Redmon Fauset's Plum Bun in the month of her 141st birthday.

March 24, 2023
Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center is once again lighting up its big screen for the Spring. Learn more about the full lineup here!

March 24, 2023
Philly and the whole country is commemorating Jazz Appreciation Month in April which honors the sound, history, culture and the legends of an American music genre. Legendary venue Chris’ Jazz Café has earmarked Thursday, April 27th for a special celebration in conjunction with the City of Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy’s Philly Celebrates Jazz 2023 calendar of jazz-inspired events.

March 23, 2023
Philadelphia Theatre Company will produce Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, written by Lanie Robertson with musical arrangements by Danny Holgate. See performance dates and learn how to purchase tickets!

March 23, 2023
Act II Playhouse has announced its 2023-2024 season celebrating 25 years in Ambler.