Black Pearl Sings!
by Frank Higgins
This production was developed at Triad Stage in Greensboro, NC.
Black Pearl Sings! is a new play with music by Frank Higgins that takes us through a journey with music. Suzannah Mullally has discovered a great African-American singer, Pearl Johnson, in a Texas prison. They become fast friends and Suzannah is able to get Pearl released. They then journey to New York to share the music that Pearl has learned through her life. While there they are faced with the needed to decide how much they are willing to give to eventually get what they want.
ACT I
The First Act takes place in the prison that Pearl was sentanced to. Here she looks at the blue bandana her father wore in the war that Susannah was able to recover from a place her daughter used to rent but left suddenly.
End of Act I
This is the final moment in Act I where Peal has just learned that she is going to get a conditional release and head to New York City. At this moment we learn the importatnce of her ancestors when she takes a moment to look out the window and let a little of Africa out.
Act II
This act takes place in New York. This is the transition between Scene 1 and Scene 2. Pearl had gone out to the Cotton Club and has woken with a hangover.
As they discuss their upcoming performance at Cooper Union, Pearl performs for Susannah. The sound file is that performance of Old VA. This eventually ended up being cut from the production because the transition became tight enough that they could sing it live.
Africa
"The African Song" by myself and Laurelyn Dossett was conceived to help with the "AHHH" moment, when Pearl sings a song from the motherland.
In this moment we wanted to have the voices of the past and future come together. I created a soundscape that took spoken word in West African languages and placed an origional African Drumming session on top.
The sound file is strictly the African Drumming.