Great Depression blues meet queer found family in Harlem's dying renaissance.
New York, 1930. Following a decade of creative explosion, the Harlem Renaissance is starting to feel the bite of the Great Depression. In the face of hardship and dwindling opportunity, Angel and her friends battle to keep their artistic dreams alive. But, when Angel falls for a stranger from Alabama, their romance forces the group to make good on their ambitions, or give in to the reality of the time. Lynette Linton directs a startling revival of this extraordinary play by Pearl Cleage.
Acting
Samira Wiley's Angel is devastating, magnetic, unforgettable.
Direction
Linton's staging makes 1930 Harlem breathe and ache.
Production
Set transforms cramped apartment into whole world.
Director
Lynette Linton
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Pearl Cleage wrote this in 1995 as AIDS crisis ravaged Black arts communities, making it a eulogy for two lost generations.
Leland's Alabama origin isn't random—Cleage deliberately contrasted Harlem's relative freedom with the rural South's brutal constraints.
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