Vallery Sledge as Harriet Powers

Seldon Peden, Yolanda McRae, Willie J. Stratford, Jr. and Vallery Sledge

Actor Role Willie J Stratford,Jr Uncle Jerry Vallery Sledge Harriet Powers Seldon Peden Armstead Powers Yvonne Reeder Big Mama Tyson Malik Neal Alonzo Powers Yolanda McRae Laura Lisa Justice Jennie Smith JeanE Bartlett Millie Rutherford Anthony Goodin Johnathan Crawford

Quilting the Sun

By Grace Cavalieri
Directed by Carrie Ann Collins

Feb. 22 - March 10, 2007

Executive Director's Notes
by BJ Koonce

It was about this time last year when I was having to seriously consider this year’s season…a task that is daunting, at best…and in view of his recent death, I thought it might be good to produce a work by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson for Black History Month. Then Tiffany handed me a play entitled Quilting the Sun, by Grace Cavalieri. She had performed in a staged reading of the play in New York and thought I might consider doing a reading here. I read the play and something told me that this play deserved more than another reading. At the time, I was certainly aware of the educational potential of the work, but I could not have envisioned the extent of the creative energy and collaborative projects that have emerged as a result of Grace Cavalieri’s tribute to the remarkable Harriet Powers and her Bible quilt.

The first fateful decision was hiring Carrie Ann Collins to direct. She had worked with us on our New Play Festival, and we were impressed with her work, but we had no idea that she was a member of the International Museum Theatre Alliance (truthfully, I had no idea that such an organization existed!). In that meeting she told me about her colleague, Kendra Johnson, costume designer at Clemson, whose area of expertise is 18th and 19th century slave clothing. Later, Bronwyn White joined the production as scene designer. It seems that she has a particular interest in folk art. This was, indeed, the making of a production dream team.

I hope you will make special note of all the arts and cultural organizations that have worked together to bring attention to Harriet and her quilt. The Upcountry History Museum, The Greenville County Museum of Art, The Emrys Foundation, The Greenville County School District, The Hughes Library, The Greenville Cultural Exchange, Furman University and The Metropolitan Arts Council have all worked together to offer events that will enlighten and entertain us all. Early on I recognized that our small staff could not possibly handle the coordination of these events, so my good friend Frances Simon (of the PS Group) and her assistant Jennifer Harrison agreed to take on that task. I thank them from the bottom of my heart. Most importantly my thanks go to the wonderful Grace Cavalieri, who has given so much to Greenville. She has freely given of her time to teach, to speak, to read and to share so much of herself and her many talents with us.

From the moment I made the decision to produce this play, the various pieces of our quilting project have come together as if cut out and stitched by an unseen hand. Harriet called her Bible quilt a ‘spelled’ quilt, and I truly believe it is. It has affected so many over so many decades and I hope that you, too, will fall under the spell of its magic.