Blues for an Alabama Sky

Join Spelman Theatre and Performance for Blues for an Alabama Sky by Pearl Cleage, directed by Keith Arthur Bolden. Set during the Harlem Renaissance, this powerful play explores dreams, love, and survival amid a time of social change.

Presented as part of the 2025–2026 season, Black Joy as Resistance, the production runs October 23 – 26, 2025, in the Baldwin Burroughs Theatre, housed in the Latanya Richardson Jackson and Samuel L. Jackson Performing Arts Center, Rockefeller Arts Building. Evening performances will be held October 23 – 25 at 7 p.m., with a matinee on October 26, at 2 p.m.

Set in Harlem during the Great Depression, Cleage's Blues for an Alabama Sky follows a tight-knit circle of friends who have built their own chosen family within a shared apartment building. Angel, a recently unemployed blues singer, and Guy, a costume designer chasing his dream of making it to Paris, live across from Delia, a dedicated social worker, and Sam, a compassionate doctor. When Leland, a newcomer from the South, enters their world and becomes enamored with Angel, their lives intertwine in unexpected ways. As Angel faces a difficult choice between security and ambition, her decision sets off a chain of events that forever changes the course of their relationships and dreams.

Content advisory: This production contains strong language that is reflective of the era. There are guns on stage, references to abortion and loud noises.

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