The time is 1905, the place New York City, where Esther (Angel Dawson), a black seamstress, lives in a boarding house for women and sews intimate apparel for clients who range from wealthy white patrons to prostitutes. Her skills and discretion are much in demand, and she has managed to save a goodly sum of money in her quilt over the years. One by one, the other denizens of the boarding house marry and move away, but Esther remains, lonely and longing for a husband and a future. Her plan is to find the right man and use the money shes saved to open a beauty parlor where black women will be treated as royally as the white women she sews for.
By way of a mutual acquaintance, she begins to receive beautiful letters from a lonesome Caribbean man named George (Steven Smith) who is working on the Panama Canal. Being illiterate, Esther has two of her customers respond to the letters, and over time the correspondence becomes increasingly intimate until George persuades her that they should marry, sight unseen. Meanwhile, Esthers heart seems to lie with the Hasidic shopkeeper, Mr. Marks (Luis Pagan-Anderson), from whom she buys cloth, and his heart with her, but the impossibility of the match is obvious to them both, and Esther consents to marry George. When George, arrives in New York, however, he turns out not to be the man his letters painted him to be. He absconds with Esthers savings, frittering it away on whores and liquor. Deeply wounded by the betrayal, but somehow unbroken, Esther returns to the boarding house determined to use her gifted hands and her sewing machine to refashion her dreams and make them anew from the whole cloth of her lifes experiences.
Directed by Ruth Martelli, other members of the ensemble are Amy Young, Nadia Riznyk and Sydney Abramowicz.
Of the six cast members, three are graduates of Reading High School: Angel Dawson, Sydney Abramowicz and Luis Pagan-Anderson.
The play opens Friday, April 24 at 7 pm and continues on Saturday, April 25 at 7 pm. The Sunday, April 26th performance begins at 3 pm. Reading Community Players theatre is at 403 N. 11th St, at Buttonwood. Free parking is available at the Citadel, 12th St and Walnut, where a shuttle, courtesy of Michael's Classic Limousine, will be provided to take people to and from the theatre.
The production is dedicated to the playwright, Lynn Nottage, who came to Reading determined to know why the City was ranked the poorest in the nation. She has returned many times seeking to know the people of Reading and understand the reasons for the city's poverty rate.
Tickets are $15 for adults; $12 for seniors and $8 for students. Call (610) 375-9106 for reservations, or go to Brown Paper Tickets on the web or www.readingcommunityplayers.com