About This Show
Intimate Apparel takes place at the dawn of the 20th century, when
opportunities for African-American women are in short supply. But 35-year-old
Esther, played by the award winning actress Cecilia Foreman, has a gift for
sewing exquisite lingerie. Her creations are worn by Park Avenue socialites and
downtown prostitutes alike, and offer her a rare life of independence. Still, she
is lonely and risks it all to wed a Caribbean stranger whom she knows only
through a romantic exchange of letters. When she realizes that he may not
be the same person who wrote those impassioned thoughts, Esther must answer
difficult questions about her own identity, about tradition, and about a
woman’s place in the world.
Intimate Apparel is a lovely tribute to all those anonymous African American pioneers who, at the turn of the 20th century, cleared an independent opening for themselves surrounded by a formidable forest of birch trees. Esther,with nimble fingers and the heart of an artist, makes her patterns, cuts her cloth, sews her intimate apparel and builds a clientele with lonely fortitude.Then, to stem that loneliness and bring a lovely pattern to her personal life, she risks it all.