South Camden Theatre Company Concludes Their Season Celebrating Female Playwrights With This Historical Theatre Piece By Lynn Nottage
NEWS RELEASE
“Our season, Celebrating Female Playwrights concludes with Lynn Nottage’s play, “Crumbs From The Table Of Joy” states Artistic Director, Ray Croce. “This show is being directed by well-known actor and director, Ms. Connie Norwood. She has directed multiple times at the Waterfront South Theatre. Her directing credits include plays by Tennessee Williams including “Suddenly Last Summer”, “Kingdom Of Earth” and “A Lovely Sunday For Creve Couer”. She also directed August Wilson’s plays including “Radio Golf”and “King Hedley ll” along with Eugene O’Neill’s drama “The Emperor Jones”. Connie was most recently seen on stage in this season’s “The Savannah Sipping Society.”
Board President, Robert Bingaman is happy that Ms. Norwood is directing this excellent play and historical drama by Lynn Nottage. “Watching Connie direct a piece written by such an intelligent playwright gives me great joy. She understands the significance of the plays historical perspective and works to bring out the best in every cast member.”
The Play
Recently widowed Godfrey, and his daughters Ernestine and Ermina, move from Florida to Brooklyn for a better life. Not knowing how to parent, Godfrey turns to religion, and especially to Father Divine, for answers. The girls absorb their new surroundings, but not necessarily religion. Lily, Godfrey’s sister-in-law, shows up from Harlem, having promised her sister that if anything ever happened, she’d look out for the girls. Lily, while fascinating to her nieces, she stands for everything Godfrey dislikes: communism, sexual freedom and the fight against racial discrimination.
As the racial and social issues of the late 1950s escalate, personal issues between Godfrey and Lily explode, prompting him to walk out. A few days later, he returns, with a new wife—a white, German immigrant, Gerte. With Godfrey immersed in religion, Lily claiming to be a part of the new revolution, and quiet, stoic Gerte coming from the horrors of Germany, life in the household gets heated. Ultimately, Lily must leave, seeing as she’s neither Godfrey’s wife nor the girls’ mother. Godfrey and Gerte keep the family together as best they can — but nothing lasts forever.
The New York Times says, “Imagine a pairing of Tennessee Williams and Lorraine Hansberry, a memory play about a black family, a glass menagerie in the sun, Crumbs From The Table Of Joy is a small window into the past, and this almost voyeuristic glimpse is worth your attention.”
This is the final production of our 13th season, Celebrating Female Playwrights, which opens November 2 and runs through November 18. Our shows are Friday and Saturday nights at 8pm and Sunday afternoons at 2pm. Tickets are available online www.southcamdentheatre.org over the phone (866) 811-4111 or at the box office one hour before showtime.
The South Camden Theatre Company is the professional resident theatre company of the Waterfront South Theatre. Camden’s “Off-Broadway” Theatre was opened in 2010 as the only new, free-standing theatre built in Camden in more than 100 years. The intimate theatre space seats 100 and is completely handicap accessible.
ABOUT THE ARTIST, LYNN NOTTAGE:
Lynn Nottage is a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and a screenwriter. Her plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the world. Her most recent play, Mlima’s Tale, premiered at the Public Theater in May 2018. In the spring of 2017, Sweat (Pulitzer Prize, Obie Award, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Tony Nomination, Drama Desk Nomination) moved to Broadway after a sold out run at The Public Theater. It is also currently running at The Philadelphia Theatre Company in Philadelphia.
Nottage is the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship, Steinberg “Mimi” Distinguished Playwright Award, PEN/Laura Pels Master Playwright Award, Merit and Literature Award from The Academy of Arts and Letters, Columbia University Provost Grant, Doris Duke Artist Award, The Joyce Foundation Commission Project & Grant, Madge Evans-Sidney Kingsley Award, Nelson A. Rockefeller Award for Creativity, The Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Award, the inaugural Horton Foote Prize, Helen Hayes Award, the Lee Reynolds Award, and the Jewish World Watch iWitness Award. Her other honors include the National Black Theatre Fest’s August Wilson Playwriting Award, a Guggenheim Grant, Lucille Lortel Fellowship and Visiting Research Fellowship at Princeton University.
Ms. Nottage is currently writing the book for the world premiere musical adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees, with music by Duncan Sheik and lyrics by Susan Birkenhead.
WHAT:
Crumbs From The Table Of Joy
By Lynn Nottage
Directed by Connie Norwood
Artistic Director – Raymond Croce, Sr.
WHERE:
South Camden Theatre Company
The Waterfront South Theatre
400 Jasper Street, Michael Doyle Lane
Camden, NJ 08104
WHEN:
November 2 – November 18, 2018
Nine performances. Friday and Saturday nights at 8:00 pm and Sunday matinées at 2:00 pm.
TICKETS:
$20 general seating
Group discounts available for 10+ call (856) 409-0365 for details.
$5 Camden Resident Tickets available for all performances. Must show proof of residency at the box office.
Tickets may be purchased online at: www.southcamdentheatre.org, or by phone at: 1.877.811.4111. You can also come to the box office to make your purchase. Doors open one hour before show time. All seats are general admission.
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CONTACTS:
Robert Bingaman, Communications, South Camden Theatre Company
(m) 609-471-4168, (e) rallan@southcamdentheatre.org
Raymond Croce, Sr., Artistic Director, South Camden Theatre Company
(m) 856-287-5136, (e) ray@southcamdentheatre.org