FRIDAY 17
Jan.17-Feb.9
HAVING OUR SAY
Howard and Rhonda Hawks Mainstage Theatre
Omaha Community Playhouse
6915 Cass St.
Tickets $10-$35
Sounds, sights and smells of reality permeate the premises in Emily Mann’s adaptation of the best-selling book of this name which was co-written by actual protagonists Sarah “Sadie” L. Delany and A. Elizabeth “Bessie” Delany. While the centenarian black ladies ruminate about their past as civil rights pioneers, of racism and sexism, photographs illuminate their memories and they lovingly cook a meal whose aroma wafts into the audience. The roles belong to Omaha sisters Camille Metoyer Moten and Lanette Metoyer Moore, no newcomers to performing. Nor to such history; they confronted it here. You might want to know as well about another famed woman: Mann. She has written more than 10 plays, including others based on fact. One, Mrs. Packard, is about a 19th Century advocate for women’s rights who was declared insane. And Execution of Justice, is a Broadway-produced docudrama focusing on Dan White, Harvey Milk’s assassin. Further complex history coming alive.