Isabella Soto (Class of 2029) - Blues for an Alabama Sky (Cultural Expansion, Performance - 2 points)

 Reflections on Blues for an Alabama Sky

On Sunday, October 26th, I had the opportunity to watch Spelman Theatre & Performance’s production of Blues for an Alabama Sky. The play was written by Pearl Cleage and premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta in 1995. The script was later published in 1999 by Dramatist’s Play Service. Blues for an Alabama Sky is set in Harlem in the summer of 1930 and follows the lives of five characters who cross paths in an apartment building. The play focuses on how they navigate life during the Great Depression, while also confronting issues of reproductive rights, homophobia, and misogyny. Cleage is known for writing stories that center Black women and explore where racism and sexism meet. Her feminist views and life experiences are apparent in the play’s focus on personal freedom and the limits society places on women’s choices. Through her writing, Cleage captures the struggle people go through when trying to build better lives in a world that often refuses to make space for them.

Pearl Cleage’s work has always been connected to both history and the present. She is a proud Spelman alumna and uses her platform as a writer and activist to challenge ideas about gender, race, and power structures. Her plays and novels highlight the voices of Black women who are often silenced or overlooked, giving their experiences a more central place in American theatre. Blues for an Alabama Sky shows how she turns personal stories into a sort of lesson and political statement. The play captures the Harlem Renaissance as a time of new ideas and social change, but it also reflects Cleage’s belief that art can be a place for truth-telling and historical discovery. 

This production, directed by Keith Arthur Bolden, felt like both a tribute to Cleage’s legacy and a reflection on how her work continues to speak to the present. In his director’s note, Bolden writes that Blues for an Alabama Sky “isn’t a period piece—it’s a mirror.” I feel as if that description fits perfectly. The play may be set in Harlem in 1930, but its themes still echo throughout the country in 2025. The characters’ struggles with economic instability and autonomy over one's body feel familiar in a time when people are still fighting for reproductive rights, confronting discrimination, and searching for stability in uncertain times. Bolden’s direction made these reflections feel natural, not forced, allowing the audience to see how Cleage’s questions about freedom and belonging are just as pressing now as they were then.

The lighting in this production played a key role in the storytelling aspect of the play. In the director’s note, Keith Arthur Bolden mentioned that the play can look different depending on where the light falls, and that idea really showed on stage. The changes in light and shadow shaped how each moment felt, with the brighter scenes revealing emotion and the darker ones carrying a sense of memory and history. The shadows seemed to hold everything the characters couldn’t say out loud. The sound design added to that feeling, and even the silence felt intentional, filled with the weight of what had happened before or what may be following.

Overall, Blues for an Alabama Sky was moving and deeply relevant. The story, lighting, and actors worked together to show why Pearl Cleage’s work still holds weight today. Watching it made me think about how the same questions around sexism and racism still shape our lives, and how Cleage’s words continue to speak to the present.

—Isabella Soto Class of 2029