“I was really moved. [It was] was such a terrible night … rainy and cold. People were standing there so patiently for such a long time to have a moment to let Mrs. King know how much she’d meant to them,” shares a poised Pearl Cleage on her inspiration to write her latest play.

A Song for Coretta depicts five African American women from different walks of life who wait in line outside Ebenezer Baptist Church to view Mrs. King in repose. Their conversations are awkward initially, but as they converse, they abandon their preconceptions of each other and develop a bond. In Coretta, Cleage wields her uncommon wisdom to expose the generation gap among African American women, the burdens of the Iraq War and the impact of Hurricane Katrina.

“I actually worked for Mrs. King. Dr. King had been killed and Mrs. King was trying to put together the Martin Luther King Center. I collected the materials [papers and tapes] and I transcribed them. I listened to the speeches that Dr. King made at many of the churches and community centers around the South,” says Cleage, recalling her first job when she arrived in Atlanta in 1969. “I admired her greatly. I don’t think any of us could fault her if she [had] decided after her husband was killed that she was going to go home, close the door and raise her children. But she didn’t do that.”

The renowned playwright is delighted about the play’s success. The production is currently at 7 Stages, and it will be a part of the 2008 National Black Arts Festival in July. –yvette caslin

Now playing through Sunday, Feb. 17 at 7 Stages, 1105 Euclid Ave., (404) 523-7647. www.7stages.org.

Send this Article to a Friend
facebook