Legendary Detroit playwright Pearl Cleage strongly believes in letting characters lead a story.
“Nobody comes to the theater to be preached at,” Cleage told the Free Press.
“And I’m the daughter of a wonderful, charismatic preacher — but that’s church on Sunday. People go to the theater because they want to hear a story; they want to go on a journey with some characters that they can believe. And, if you can create characters that people will believe, and be able to sit in the audience and say, ‘Oh, I know that woman,’ ‘I know somebody like that man,’ ‘I believe that girl,’ ‘I believe this situation could happen’ — then they surrender to the story in a painless way. I want characters to be fully developed and rich, and it keeps me from preaching at people. It allows me to just tell the story.”
Cleage succeeds with style to spare in Detroit Public Theatre’s production of her 1995 play, “Blues for an Alabama Sky,” which opened Jan. 24. Set in Depression-era Harlem with characters who lived high during the Harlem Renaissance but now struggle because of the sharp economic downturn of the 1930s, it follows the journeys of flamboyant costume designer Guy and obnoxious showgirl Angel as they chase their dreams of fame and wealth.