Black History Month – Nina Simone: Four Women

Few musicians have been as provocative, important and rebellious as Nina Simone. Fewer still can stake the claim that they are the cornerstone of Black History Month outside of America.

Next month, Simone’s work will come to life in Nina Simone: Four Women at the Market Theatre in Joburg. The production comes thanks to a healthy injection of over R1 million from the US Mission to South Africa.

Black History Month, recognised in the United States during February, led the US Mission to partner with the Market Theatre to deliver high impact, thought-provoking theatre to South African audiences.

Over the past seven years, through a series of generous grants, the US Mission to South Africa has helped fund Market Theatre productions. It helped various exhibitions, as well as African-American plays to be staged in South Africa, art that would have stayed in America if not for the effort.

Previous productions include Lorraine Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun, Jeff Stetson’s The Meeting (2017) and One Night in Miami, written (2018) by Kemp Powers.

Black History Month is an annual observance in the US, Canada and United Kingdom and is growing globally as a remembrance of iconic people involved in the history of the African diaspora.

Nina Simone: Four Women was written by Christina Ham and is set in the aftermath of the horrific September 16, 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

The play uses the framework of Nina Simone’s song, Four Women, as it brings together four female characters who, in the course of the play, confront and give voice to their personal suffering and the devastating effects of racism and discrimination.

The 1963 bombing proved a pivotal moment in Simone’s career as a songwriter, marking her shift to an artist-activist. The performances will include some of Simone’s better-known civil rights activist songs.

Jessica Lapenn from the US Embassy says: “We are tremendously excited to support the production of Nina Simone: Four Women at the Market Theatre, in particular, the voices of black women.

“I am confident that the themes brought to life through the actors, music, and the inspiring direction of James Ngcobo, will resonate powerfully with South Africans.

“I also hope the play will spark much-needed and important dialogue about the challenges our two countries have faced – and continue to face – in striving to build a society based on equality and justice, in which people, to quote Martin Luther King Jnr, ‘will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character’.”

Info

• The show stars Busi Lurayi, Lerato Mvelase, Mona Monyane Skenjana, Noxolo Dlamini, Bryan Mtsweni, Ezbie Moilwa, Mpho Kodisang, Smanga Ngubane and Sam Ibeh.
• No under 13s allowed.
• Nina Simone: Four Women will be at the John Kani Theatre.
• It will be on Tuesdays and Saturdays next month at 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm.
• Tickets are between R90 to R120, with student prices of R70.
  Tickets at markettheatre.co.za

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