Nambi E. Kelley is bringing Dr. Maya Angelou’s life story to the stage. The “Xtigone” and “Native Son” playwright has been tapped to write “Phenomenal Woman: Maya Angelou,” a “world premiere play with music in development for Broadway,” a press release announced. The production will pay tribute to the late poet, author, and civil rights activist.
Set to make its world premiere in the spring of 2021 at the North Carolina Black Repertory Company before playing Hattiloo Theatre (Memphis) and The Ensemble Theatre (Houston), “Phenomenal Woman: Maya Angelou,” formerly known as “Phenomenal Maya,” was the recipient of the Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin Rolling World Premiere Award at North Carolina Black Repertory Company’s 2019 National Black Theatre Festival.
Guy Johnson, Dr. Angelou’s son, is exec producing for Caged Bird Legacy.
“It is a dream come true to work directly with people who knew and loved Dr. Angelou, including her son Guy, her sister friend Ms. Lydia Stuckey, and the good people at Corstoria and Branded Pictures Entertainment,” said Kelley, a writer on Showtime drama “The Chi.” “It is especially poignant to present the world premiere of our collaboration in Dr. Angelou’s chosen home city of Winston-Salem at North Carolina Black Repertory Company. This collaboration has truly been orchestrated by the heavens.”
Jackie Alexander, Artistic Director of the North Carolina Black Repertory Company, added, “Dr. Angelou was chairperson of the inaugural National Black Theatre Festival (NBTF) in 1989 and an international champion of Black Theatre. To have Black institutions, NC Black Rep, Hattiloo Theatre, and The Ensemble Theatre, be the birthplaces in developing a play inspired by her life for the Broadway stage, beautifully pays homage to her memory,” she emphasized. “It’s the reason the NBTF Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin Rolling World Premiere Award was created, and signals a much-needed return to Black Theatres having a voice in defining future classics of the genre.”
Described as “an inspiring journey of memory, song, poetry, dance, and wisdom that will bring Maya’s work into present relevance,” “Phenomenal Woman: Maya Angelou” is a “lyrical memory-play” that combines “Dr. Angelou’s poetry and autobiographical writings, previously unreleased anecdotes from those who knew her well, original material, and music, to explore fundamental yet timely questions about human nature, giving the gift of Dr. Angelou’s brilliance, and inspiration to the next generation.”
The play was originally slated to premiere during the 2020 North Carolina Black Repertory Company season, but was postponed due to COVID-19.
