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‘A Song for Coretta’ Opens Tonight at South Fulton Arts Center

New African Grove Theatre Company’s production of “A Song for Coretta” opens tonight at the South Fulton Arts Center. The play is written by Pearl Cleage and directed by Keith Franklin, the company’s artistic director.

The one-act drama pays homage to civil rights icon Coretta Scott King. It takes place on February 6, 2006 as people line up outside of Ebenezer Baptist Church to pay their respects as her body lays in state in the small sanctuary.

The play’s cast of five characters are at the rear of a long line of mourners: a respectable society widow, over 40, who met Mrs. King as a child; a pushy college wannabe journalist; a middle-aged portrait artist and Katrina survivor; a street-smart, wise-mouthed teenage mother-to-be; and a traumatized Iraq war veteran contemplating desertion.

All have faced harsh realities, and all seek inspiration from the woman they have come to honor. Lives that at first seem so alien and inspire hostility begin to resonate with commonality. 

“A Song for Coretta” runs Friday, Feb. 21 at 8 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 23 at 2 p.m., Friday, Feb. 28 at 8 p.m., Saturday Feb. 29 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday, Mar. 1 at 2p.m.

Tickets start at $15 and are available via Eventbrite.

The New African Grove Theatre Company is a community theatre founded to encourage African American participation and involvement in all aspects of theatrical production.  Past productions include “The Long Goodbye,” “Domestic Damages,” “Porch Society” and “Holy Intervention.”

Photo Credit: New African Grove Theatre Company

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