Playwright Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder researched Gee’s Bend by interviewing women from the Alabama island community that gives the play its name who wove quilts from tattered clothing and other scraps of their lives. She was advised, “Just write it honest.” Wilder took that wisdom to heart, and it shines through the Cincinnati Playhouse’s current production of her moving story of one family’s journey across a half-century of American life.
Sadie (Bakesta King) is the plainspoken central character, a woman who perpetuates the craft of quilting she’s learned from Alice, her mother (Cherene Snow, who later plays Sadie’s daughter Asia). Nella (Nikkole Salter) is her opinionated, tart-tongued sister who never learns to sew but who accompanies Sadie on her life’s long trajectory. Macon (Quentin Earl Darrington) courts Sadie, marries her and gives her children, then has a tough time coping with her evolving attitudes about Civil Rights and her own fierce independence.
Gee's Bend, presented by the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, continues through April 9. Go here to read Rick Pender's full review.
