About This Show
For 53 years, Zora Neale Hurston’s script was forgotten, gathering dust in the Library of Congress… now a lost play from this celebrated African-American artist comes to life with a burst of blues at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Berkeley Rep continues its successful 2004/05 season with the west coast premiere of Polk County, written by Hurston and Dorothy Waring, adapted by Kyle Donnelly and Cathy Madison and directed by Kyle Donnelly. Original songs and music direction for the show are by California blues musician Chic Street Man.
The show tells the story of aspiring blues musician Leafy Lee as she leaves New York to return to her childhood home in the working quarters of a sawmill camp in Polk County, Florida. With a rich cast of characters and live musicians performing dozens of authentic early blues songs, Polk County is guaranteed to lift the spirits. The extraordinary individuals of this rural town face the hardships of the Depression with a sense of humor and faith in the Blues, forming an unforgettable ensemble whose existence is seldom easy but always lived with gusto.
A co-production with the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, NJ.
