Alabama Story


   I paid to see this show and it was a preview, therefore my post on Alabama Story will be more blurb than review but let's say it's a positive blurb.

   Kenneth Jones' 2013 play, presented by the GhostLight theatre ensemble, is a somewhat gentler, less intense chapter of the tumultuous Civil Rights Movement than we may be used to but those smaller stories are worth telling as well. The plot takes place in Montgomery, Alabama, 1959 and concerns an ambitious State Senator's (Tom Goodwin) efforts to ban a children's book The Rabbit's Wedding about a black rabbit and a white one finding love, from the public library, and the vigorous defense mounted by library director Emily Wheelock Reed. (Maria Burnham)

Parallel to this story is the occasionally tense, sexual and otherwise, adult reunion between childhood friends, African American Joshua (Khnemu Menu-Ra) and white Lilly (Haley Basil)

As I said, it's a story worth telling, particularly as the right wing impulse to stop children from reading dangerous books (if only that was our worst problem) continues unabated into our present day. The performances of the cast were also sympathetic, complicated and layered.


  • Where: After-Words Bookstore, 23 E Illinois St, Chicago &
    Haymarket Books at Haymarket House, 800 W Buena Ave, Chicago
  • When: Sept 27-29 & Oct 4-6, 2024 (After-Words Bookstore)
    Oct 11-13 & Oct 18-20, 2024 (Haymarket Books)
  • What time: Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
  • How much: Tickets are pay-what-you-will, with an average donation of $25. By donating more, if you are able, you help offset the cost for those who can’t afford to give. A preview performance is scheduled for Friday, September 27. Suggested donation for this performance is $10.





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