Benches, Sketches of the 1930s

It was the early 1930s when Marian Anderson appeared for the first time as the foremost black opera singer. The play is centered around her sitting on a bench in front of the Lincoln Memorial preparing for a concert Easter Sunday Morning in 1939. Having sung all over the world, she was denied the use of singing in Washington DCs Constitution Hall because she was black. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, appalled by the racist action appealed to the President who opened up Lincoln Memorial for the concert which was attended by 75 thousand people. While sitting on a bench Anderson shares her ten year experience with us through dialogue and song while a story teller fills in her life before and after the thirties.