Intimate Apparel
by Lynn Nottage
directed by Derek snow
January 7 - 23, 2022
The time is 1905, the place New York City, where Esther, a Black seamstress, lives in a boarding house for women and sews intimate apparel for clients who range from wealthy white patrons to prostitutes. Her skills and discretion are much in demand, and she has managed to stuff a goodly sum of money into her quilt over the years. One by one, the other denizens of the boarding house marry and move away, but Esther remains, lonely and longing for a husband and a future. By way of a mutual acquaintance, she begins to receive beautiful letters from a lonesome Caribbean man named George who is working on the Panama Canal, and over time the correspondence becomes increasingly intimate until George persuades her that they should marry, sight unseen. Meanwhile, Esther’s heart seems to lie with the Hasidic shopkeeper from whom she buys cloth, and his heart with her, but the impossibility of the match is obvious to them both, and Esther consents to marry George. But when George arrives in New York, is he the man he claimed to be? And can Esther overcome yet another personal setback and fulfill her lifelong dream?
Cast
Esther – Jasimine Bouldin
Mrs. Dickson – Elizabeth L. Taylor
Mayme - Cynthia Nesbit
Mrs. Van Buren – Sally Fint
Mr. Marks - Phineas J. Clark
George – Ryan-Chavez Richmond