The Sty of the Blind Pig

Originally produced in 1971 by the venerable Negro Ensemble Company, and hailed by Time Magazine as one of the best plays of the year, Philip Hayes Dean’s powerful drama is about an uprooted Black family (mother, daughter, uncle) living in Chicago during the time that civil rights leaders were starting to organize protest marches in the South. The family members essentially accept the old values and cherish what they love, and are uncomfortable with marches and talks of fighting. A blind street singer (Richard Ward, in a bravura performance) intrudes briefly into their lives, with shattering effect. Who shall overcome?