🗓️ Thursday, January 30th – Sunday, February 23rd, 2025
🕓 7:30 pm (select 2 pm performances)
💰 Tickets $20 – $101
📍 Seattle Rep: 155 Mercer St, Seattle (at Seattle Center)
🚍 Near the D Line and Monorail
It’s 1930s Harlem in a heatwave, and tensions are running high. The flourishing of the Harlem Renaissance is running up against the stark realities of the Great Depression, and Angel, a backup singer at the Cotton Club, is fresh out of a job. Her best friend and roommate, Guy, is a costume designer who works tirelessly at his sewing machine while dreaming of dressing Josephine Baker in Paris. Meanwhile, their neighbor Delia and local doctor Sam are fighting for a birth control clinic in the neighborhood. When a suitor from the South takes an interest in Angel, the friends find themselves at a major crossroads.
Celebrating the 30th anniversary of its premiere, Blues for an Alabama Sky at Seattle Rep is both timely and timeless. The play centers queer and female characters creating chosen family amid economic woes and bigotry—experiences that may be all too familiar to Seattle audiences in 2025.
“The story is set in 1930, but it isn’t about 1930,” says playwright Pearl Cleage, who’s known for her real and raw portrayals of Black women’s lives. “It’s about truth and honor and love and fear and friendship, topics which don’t grow old.” Cleage’s work is experiencing a revival of interest in the US and London, and this will be its first production at Seattle Rep. Helmed by beloved local director Valerie Curtis-Newton, the production will feature period sets and costumes, showcasing both the glamour of the Harlem Renaissance and the tenacity of a community struggling for survival. It’s a great chance to be moved and inspired by a story that both honors and transcends its time and place.
💁 Pro tips:
😷 Mask required performance Feb 9th @ 7:30 pm
💕 Sensory-friendly performance Feb 15th @ 2 pm
🎟️ Student matinee Feb 20th @ 10:30 am
👀 ASL & audio described performance Feb 22nd @ 2 pm
⚕️ After the Feb 19th performance, there’ll be a free panel: Black Women’s Healthcare in America
Experience poetic and gripping stories in 2025 starting with Blues for an Alabama Sky. Tickets on sale now.
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