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Searching for Song
Black Pearl Sings! at Merrimack
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Set in the transition rife 1930’s , Black Pearl Sings! is a drama following Susannah, a researcher with higher academic aspirations, as she searches for lost African-American folk music. Her search leads her to Alberta “Pearl” Johnson, a woman doing time in prison whose resonant singing voice Susannah suspects houses the lost music she seeks so fervently. The play will open at Merrimack Repertory Theatre February 11 and will continue through March 7, 2010.
Leading the cast are Valerie Leonard (Susannah) and Cherene Snow (Pearl), both making their Merrimack debuts. Ambitious beyond the limitations her gender historically presents her, Susannah is a “song collector” for the Library of Congress. When she stumbles upon Pearl in a Texas Penitentiary, her singing wafting through the prison halls, Susannah observes, “People with good voices tend to know a lot of songs.” But the road to discovery is a long one. Pearl, hardened from a life of hardship is distrusting of Susannah at first. Imprisoned for the murder of an abusive man, Pearl warms to Susannah when she proves willing to help with finding her 22-year-old daughter who has gone missing—assumedly having run away with another untrustworthy man.
More than a tale of two people in need of finding something (and someone), Black Pearl Sings! flushes out both characters with flaws and nuances. For more information on Black Pearl Sings! or to purchase tickets, please visit www.merrimackrep.org.