WaterTower Theatre opens regional premiere of Intimate Apparel this week

by PegNews wire

The winner of five national awards for best play is making its way to Addison.

WaterTower Theatre continues its 2007-2008 season with the regional premiere of Lynn Nottage’s acclaimed drama Intimate Apparel. The show will be directed by Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe, director of WTT’s This is How it Goes and The Old Settler.

Plain and unsophisticated, Esther sews exquisite lingerie for women of the boudoir and the brothel alike. When she begins a correspondence with a man from across the world, her hopes for finding companionship and love take an unexpected turn. The winner of five national awards for best play, Intimate Apparel weaves together a moving and evocative portrait of one African-American woman’s search for love at the beginning of the 20th Century.

Speaking of her inspiration to write the play, Nottage has said, “The play was inspired by my great-grandmother, Ethel Boyce, who arrived alone in New York City in 1902. She was an amazing seamstress who specialized in intimate apparel for women. She began corresponding with a man in Panama who had seen a portrait of Ethel hanging above her uncle’s bunk. That man was to become my great-grandfather, George Armstrong, who left us nothing but a few fragmented tales of the hardship of working on the Panama Canal.”

The production will feature returning WTT actors Dan Forsythe, Emily Scott Banks, M. Denise Lee, Bryan Pitts and Lisa Whitfield. Making her WTT debut as Esther is Stormi Demerson. Scenic design is by Randel Wright; lighting design is by Susan A. White and costume design is by Christina Dickson.

Intimate Apparel will run May 22 – June 15 and tickets can be purchased by calling 972-450-6232.

Posted by Shawn