Last year, playwright and actress Nambi E. Kelley’s adaptation of “Native Son” by Richard Wright was one of the highest grossing productions in the 60-year history of the Court Theatre in Chicago and played to sold out/standing room only houses. This year, Kelley’s musical For Her As A Piano recently kicked off the 2015-2016 season of the Pegasus Theatre Company in Chicago.
Kelley’s latest play follows “Sarah” as she begins a journey to sort out her family history and in the process she traces the lives of three generations of women “through music, memory, and magic.”
In a recent interview, Kelley revealed that the play’s unique name came about during a dream that she had several years ago.
“I woke up and had this phrase in my head: ‘For Her as a Piano.’ I didn’t know what it meant. I didn’t know what it was supposed to be, but I wrote it down and kept it in the back of my mind.”
Ilesa Duncan directs the play with music composed by Jaret Landon and is being produced in association with The Goodman Theatre and Chicago Dramatists. The cast features Toya Turner as “Sarah” along with Nadirah Bost, Dushon Brown, Toni Lynice Fountain, Nicole Michelle Haskins, Monette McLin, and Camille Robinson.
In addition to her critically acclaimed adaptation of Native Son, Kelley has penned plays for Steppenwolf, Goodman Theatre, and Court Theatre, American Blues, Lincoln Center in New York, and internationally. She was recently awarded a residency at The National Black Theatre in New York City to be a playwright in residence for 2015-17.
As an actress, she was recently nominated for a Hattie McDaniel Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play by the Black Theatre Alliance Awards, Inc. for her work as “Risa” in August Wilson’s Two Trains Running. She’s also appeared on television in “Person of Interest,” “Madam Secretary,” “Elementary,” and “Chicago PD.”
Performances of For Her As A Piano are scheduled to run through November 1 and tickets can be purchased here.
