St. Louis Black Rep’s Rendition of: “A Song for Coretta” by Pearl Cleage at Grandel Theatre through March 15, 2009

“A Song for Coretta” by Pearl Cleage was inspired by the long line of mourners who came by Ebenezer Baptist Church to pay their respects to Mrs. Coretta Scott King. The play introduces five fictional African-American women, aged 17 to 57, waiting in the rain to say their good-byes. The play premiered at Spelman College in 2007 under the direction of Crystal Dickinson.

The Black Rep’s production, is, as usual, magnificent in every respect: staging, costuming, acting, music…wonderfully directed and produced.

Coretta Scott King (April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006) was the wife of the assassinated civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., and a noted civil rights leader, author, and founder and former president of the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal and the Gandhi Peace Prize. Many also know that Mrs. King was a singer who completed a degree in Music Education and was preparing for a career as a singer when she met the young preacher, Martin Luther King In the 1950s. Mrs. King died at the age 78 after battling ovarian cancer and the effects of a stroke.