True Colors Theatre Company continues its free play reading series with If Pretty Hurts… by Tori Sampson. The play is a contemporary riff on a Nigerian fable about a pretty girl and seven jealous women. It earned Sampson the Kennedy Center’s Paula Vogel playwright prize.
Sampson says the play meshes contemporary African and American culture and takes on how Black women view beauty. The play raises a number of questions for audiences including what it means to be a Black woman in today’s society, how beauty is celebrated and how women are sometimes taught not to love themselves.
“I really want people to engage in this discussion about beauty on a deeper level than we usually do in front of people,” said Sampson in a past interview.
She said that she hopes the play helps audiences gain a better understanding of how some conversations about beauty can be detrimental, and how beauty can be embraced in ways that are more affirming.
The reading will take place on Saturday, February 1 at 7 p.m. and be directed by Cynthia Barker. Tickets are available via Eventbrite.
The themes of the True Colors Theatre Company’s staged readings parallel those in the regular season’s productions. If Pretty Hurts… is the lead up to School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play which opens on Feb. 11.
Image Credit: Playwrights Horizons