Crossroads Theatre Company is staging Lynn Nottage’s early play, ‘Crumbs from the Table of Joy.’ The play follows a Black family’s experiences in 1950s Brooklyn. The main character, Ernestine Crump, is a teenager who moves with her family from Pensacola, Florida, after her mother’s death. As she nears high school graduation, Ernestine looks for guidance and tries to understand her place in a changing society.
Ernestine’s father, Godfrey, is a widower who follows the teachings of Father Divine, a religious leader from the early 1950s. Godfrey’s beliefs and grief lead him to move the family to Brooklyn. Ernestine’s Aunt Lily, her mother’s sister, lives in Harlem. Lily is outspoken and politically active, supporting social change and Communism. She introduces Ernestine to new ideas and different perspectives on life.
The play references historical events and figures, such as the Scottsboro Boys, McCarthyism, Bette Davis, and Charlie Parker. These references place the family’s story within the larger context of American history. Ernestine writes a school paper on ‘The Colored Worker in the United States,’ which causes problems for her father at work and highlights the racial and political tensions of the time…