February 26, 2009

Tabard Theatre to present ‘Crowns’

The Tabard Theatre Company will end its eighth season with the musical “Crowns,” which won the AUDELCO for best musical. The play is scheduled for March 6-29 at the Theatre on San Pedro Square.

The Tabard Theatre Company will end its eighth season with the musical “Crowns,” which won the AUDELCO for best musical.

The play was adapted by Regina Taylor from the book “Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats” by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry, and first produced in October 2002 by The McCarter Theatre Company. Since then “Crowns,” which celebrates the heritage of African-American women and the hats they wear to church, has been successfully produced throughout the United States. The Tabard Theatre Company’s production is the first to be presented in San Jose and is directed by Diane Milo.

“I chose to include “Crowns” in our first season at Theatre on San Pedro Square because I believe that this story will resonate with Tabard and South Bay audiences,” says Cathy Spielberger Cassetta, executive director of The Tabard Theatre Company, “It is rich, exciting, and filled with more life-affirming joy than you can imagine. Regina Taylor has crafted a wonderful piece of theatre that speaks to the heart, soul and mind.”

In “Crowns” Taylor has woven together the book’s biographical stories by following a teen-aged girl from Brooklyn to South Carolina where she learns of her rich heritage and the tradition behind the hats worn by the women who surround her. Taylor has also accentuated the rich heritage of African American women and their church hats by interweaving the stories with music that includes the traditional “field holler,” “ring shout,” spirituals, blues, jazz and rap. All of these elements makes “Crowns” an intriguing story that ties the past and present together. “I am drawn to real stories,” says director Diane Milo, “and that is the essence of ‘Crowns.’”

The cast and staff are all from the Bay Area. Diane Milo has over 50 musical theatre credits as director, vocal director or performer with American Musical Theatre/SJ, Foothill Music Theatre, City Lights Theatre Company, Saratoga Drama Group, West Valley Light Opera and other companies throughout the Bay Area. Music director Derrick Hall is a record producer, music arranger and music minister in Fremont. Choreographer Debra J. Crenshaw is also in the cast along with Glenna Brambill-Williams, Juanita Harris, Tracy Perrilliat, Paula Warren, Alea M. Woods and James Creer, the only man in the cast,

Tickets for “Crowns” are available through Tabard’s box office at (408) 679-2330 or online at www.tabardtheatre.org.