“Having Our Say :The Delany Sisters’ First Hundred Years”

Highly Recommended **** The Goodman Theatre is known for a great mix of plays on their stages. Many of them are historical in nature, mixing theater with historical facts and in some cases commissioning playwrights to make this happen. Their current production is indeed one of those historical stories. In this case, the story is one that very few people are aware of. The story is about The Delany Sisters and takes us deep into the lives of these two women as interviewed, taking us from their childhood ( born in 1889 and 1891) and talking about the years of the 20th Century ( well, almost the entire century).

The two women, Sadie ( an incredible performance by Marie Thomas) the elder and her baby sister, Bessie ( deftly handled by  Ella Joyce) are onstage from start to end. Two hours ( there is a ten minute intermission) taking us back to their childhood, their educational process, their family, their adventures, their careers ( Bessie was a dentist and Sadie, a school teacher-in an all white school) , and all in all their life experiences. These are lessons about life that playwright Emily Mann has truly captured and under the able direction of Chuck Smith, this production is one that should be seen by students as well as adults. I would think that organizations such as Facing History and Ourselves would grab on to this beautiful story and teach it to their teachers in order to keep the story alive.

Mann adapted her play from the book written by the Delaney sisters along with Amy Hill Hearth. The full title is “Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First Hundred Years”. These two ladies had incredible lives during a period that did not allow women of color the opportunities they were able to find. Of course, some of this was prior to Jim Crow Laws. They were daughters of slaves who moved to New York and while living in Harlem, opened up their eyes to the world that was there for them. Again, before the Jim Crow Laws.

They had lived very long lives, passing the 100 year mark and still living alone, doing their thing. In fact, during this entire production, they are preparing a special dinner. Watching them work in the kitchen sort of made me hungry, but also showed us that these ladies had lost nothing during their aging process. They joked at the fact, that never marrying may have been the reason for their long and healthy lives. But they also tell us that they exercise on a regular basis, never drink water that is unboiled, and start each day with a teaspoon of cod-liver oil and a chopped clove of garlic ( which may have accounted for them never marrying as well).

The story is amazing and spellbinding and the performances by these two powerful ( and loveable) actresses is one that should not be missed. As I said the performance is the shortest two hours of theater I have been an audience member of and I would have loved to hear a few more stories as well as see the meal that they worked on finished. The set, a turntable so we see both the Living Room and Dining Room (designed by Linda Buchanan) is perfect and the photo projections ( Mike Tutaj) help us to stay with the actual historical facts that are ingrained into the story, as it was a major factor in their lives. Birgit Rattenborg Wise did a great job with the period costumes, John Culbert’s lighting perfect and Ray Nardelli’s sound made everything clear.

What started as an interview for The New York Times by Hearth, was taken to the next step where it became a full length book, filled with interviews and stories of their lives. They were not authors, but their stories were well received by both black and white readers. They followed the first book with a second “The Delany Sisters’ Book of Everyday Wisdom” ( will we see that one day?). That was followed by yet another, written with Hearth ,” On My Own at 107: Reflections of Life without Bessie” written with Sadie after Bessie’s death in 1995. While this play shows the changes in our world over the years, it also shows us that as the years have gone by, the changes have been somewhat limited and despite the progress we are told we have made, for many, we still have a long way to go. The importance of the messages in this wonderful story is that it comes from the heart.

“Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First Hundred Years” will continue at The Goodman Theater thru June 10th with performances as follows:

Tuesdays  2  and 7:30 p.m.

Wednesdays  7:30 p.m.

Thursdays  2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Fridays  8 p.m.

Saturdays  2 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Sundays  2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

ACCESSIBILITY

6/2  touch tour at 2 p.m. and Audio Described as well

6/6 ASL Interpreted  2 p.m.

6/9  Open Caption  2 p.m.

visit http://www.GoodmanTheatre.org/Accessfor details

Tickets range in price from $10- $73 and can be purchased at the box office located at 170 N. Dearborn ,Chicago, by calling 312-443-3800 or online at www.GoodmanTheatre.org

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First Hundred Years”.