Jamar Gilbert and Amber Liekhus [Photo by Daniel Reichert]
The run, which opens after four preview performances starting Aug. 23 and continues through Sept. 20, extends a years-long commitment by the Pasadena classical repertory company to stage Wilson’s decade-by-decade chronicle of 20th-century Black American life. Directed by Gregg T. Daniel, the production is set during a 1927 Chicago recording session in which the blues singer Ma Rainey contends with white producers over control of her music and her career.
Performances run Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., with 2 p.m. matinees on Saturdays and Sundays, according to the theater; there is no matinee on opening day, Saturday, Aug. 29. The four previews take place at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 23, and at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, Aug. 26–28.
Resident artist Amber Liekhus stars in the title role, with company newcomer Jamar Gilbert as the trumpeter Levee. The cast also includes Kai A. Ealy, Bert Emmett, Alex Morris, Gerald C. Rivers, Francis Edemobi, Matt Foyer, Jim Nardini and CJ Obilom; four of them — Ealy, Emmett, Morris and Rivers — return after earlier Wilson productions at the theater, the company said. The creative team includes scenic designer Tesshi Nakagawa, lighting designer Ken Booth, sound designer Jeff Gardner, costume designer Christine Cover Ferro, wig and makeup designer Shelia Dorn, properties designer Stephen Taylor, music director Byron Smith, choreographer Joyce Guy, fight choreographer Ken Merck, dialect coach Andrea Odinov and dramaturg Dr. Miranda Johnson-Haddad; Sami Hansen is the production stage manager, assisted by Bryan Tiglio.
“It’s like a rep company — the returning actors understand Wilson’s rhythms and musicality, so they teach newcomers what the Wilsonian world requires,” Daniel said. He described the play as a musical composition in its dialogue, with Levee functioning as “a counter-melody to Ma.” In materials provided by the theater, Daniel framed the play around the exploitation of Black artists. “American history is filled with examples of Black artists whose work was celebrated while they themselves were exploited,” he said. “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom asks how someone holds onto dignity, resilience and self-worth when their art is treated as a commodity.”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” was the first of Wilson’s plays to reach Broadway, where it opened in 1984 and won a New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award. Wilson, who was born in 1945 and died in 2005, set all but one of his cycle’s 10 plays in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, where he grew up; the Ma Rainey play, set in Chicago, is the exception. The cycle runs from “Gem of the Ocean,” set in 1904, to “Radio Golf,” set in 1997.
The theater has scheduled several audience events, including a one-hour INsiders Discussion Group before the Aug. 30 matinee and post-performance conversations with artists every Friday except the preview and on Sunday, Sept. 6. A “Black Out Night” performance for audiences self-identifying as Black is set for Sept. 12, with a post-show reception; the theater notes that non-Black-identifying patrons are welcome to attend or to choose a different performance. GalaPro closed captioning is offered at select performances through the Perenchio Foundation, and student matinees are scheduled on select weekday mornings at 10:30 a.m., with interested educators asked to email education@anoisewithin.org.
Tickets start at $41.75 including fees, with student tickets from $20; the Aug. 26 and Aug. 27 previews are Pay What You Choose starting at $10, and discounts are available for groups of 10 or more. A Noise Within, whose producing artistic directors are Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott, is at 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107; tickets are available at anoisewithin.org or (626) 356-3100.
