What can young Black girls and boys take from this production?
We are regal. We are beautiful. We are proud and we are proud of being regal and beautiful. It is important that this image of this Black woman in the 50s is consistently portraying this. I imagine that is what led her to get on the train that morning. I imagine she picked out her outfit to go to that first-day rehearsal. … I imagine she knew exactly what she was going to wear. I imagine she got on that train looking as nice and smelling beautiful. She got off that train, walked down that street, banged on that front door, walking into that theater, proud of how she looked, because she was about to walk into something very special.
That’s something that we have not seen on Broadway, either. That type of pride and beauty. And where you come from, even though you may not have a window, it does not matter who you are and where you live in this world. How you represent yourself is what people will see. You take space and that’s the most important thing that I want these young girls and young Black boys to know. Your space, where you are, is valid and you belong.
