NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Theatre Program at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) will present "Intimate Apparel" in person at MCLA's Venable Theater, beginning Friday, April 1, 2022, through Sunday, April 10, 2022. 

 

For more information or to reserve tickets, visit https://our.show/intimateapparel. 

 

Written by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, "Intimate Apparel" was the winner of the 2004 Steinberg New Play Award, New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award is directed by Berkshire native and co-founder of the Berkshire Fringe, Sara Katzoff. 

 

According to a press release, the show follows Esther Mills, a Black seamstress who supports herself by sewing corsets and women's undergarments. Set in Lower Manhattan in 1905 at the very cusp of the Great Migration, the play shows a Black woman taking control of her life during a time when tens of thousands of Black folks were making their journey to New York City from the American South and tens of thousands of immigrants were passing through Ellis Island from Europe. 

 

Esther sews for clients ranging from prostitutes to wealthy debutantes and quietly dreams of opening a beauty parlor to give the Black women of her community the royal treatment she sees her white clients enjoy. An affection develops between the Orthodox Jewish man who sells her fabric, but any relationship between them is strictly forbidden. When she receives a romantic letter from a mysterious Caribbean suitor, her life changes. Ultimately, she realizes that only through her own self-determination will she be able to refashion a new life for herself. 

 

 The play is based on the life of Nottage's grandmother.

 

 "We see her hope, ambitions, and dreams during a time in history where Black women are rarely recognized as being entrepreneurs. By writing this play, Nottage has remade a vital tapestry of her own lineage," said  Katzoff writes. "Through Esther Mill's craftsmanship and discretion as a seamstress, she becomes a ‘thread' weaving a rich tapestry of the ‘thousands of tiny stitches' of the immigrant and migrant American experience." She says that "Although Esther's own thread is one of longing and heartbreak, her story is ultimately one of hope, agency and resilience." 

 

Intimate Apparel features a cast of students from MCLA's award-winning Theatre Program. Zurie Adams (Esther), Abby Daggett (Mrs. Van Buren), and Comfort Amcheampong (Mrs. Dickson), alongside Sajaira Hudson (Mayme), John Archer-Harvey (George), and introducing Ahmed Reda (Mr. Marks). The creative team includes Jeremy Winchester (Set Designer), Michaela Petrovich (Costume Designer), Anthony Simon (Lighting Designer), James W. Bilnoski (Technical Director), Aedan Maginnis (Stage Manager), Nadia Frye Leinhos (Dramaturge), and Laura Standley (Intimacy Director/Dialect Coach).