Crumbs from the Table of Joy
Encyclopedia
Production history
The play was first performed off-BroadwayOff-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
at the Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre is an award-winning contemporary Off-Broadway theater company.-Mission:The theatre's mission is to give new life to contemporary American plays and to produce the world premiers of new plays by both established and emerging playwrights...
from May 9, 1995, through July 1, 1995. Directed by Joe Morton, the cast featured Kisha Howard, Nicole Leach, Daryl Edwards, Ella Joyce and Stephanie Roth. The New York Times reviewer wrote that the play "has an adolescent quality, suggestive of a playwright still struggling to emerge from studied imitativeness into her own mature voice".
The play was produced at South Coast Repertory
South Coast Repertory
South Coast Repertory is a professional theatre company located in Costa Mesa, California.Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely...
, Costa Mesa, California, from September 17, 1996, through October 20. Directed by Seret Scott the cast featured Dorian Harewood
Dorian Harewood
W. Dorian Harewood is an American actor. He first garnered attention for his portrayal of Simon Haley in the ABC miniseries Roots: The Next Generations.-Career:...
as Godfrey. The Press Enterprise reviewer wrote "Seret Scott has directed a strong, frequently moving and frequently amusing production."
The play has received many regional productions in the US, including: Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, March 5-30, 1996 and Crossroads Theater Company, New Brunswick, New Jersey in March 1998. It was produced at Center Stage
Center Stage
Center Stage is a 2000 American drama film, directed by Nicholas Hytner, about a group of young dancers from various backgrounds who enroll at the fictitious American Ballet Academy in New York City...
, Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Maryland, from May 5-June 11, 2006 It ran at the Goodman Theatre
Goodman Theatre
The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois, from June 6-25, 2006.
Plot
The play takes place in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
in 1950. An African- American man, Godfrey Crumb, grieving over his wife's death, finds new meaning in religion. He moves his family, Ernestine, a 17-year old and Ermina, 15 years old, from Florida to Brooklyn. Their Aunt Lily espouses Communist sentiments and Godfrey's new wife is not only a white woman, but German.
Nottage has said of the play: "The 1950s was such a moment in American history in which I felt so much change...everything I had seen was in black and white. And I wanted to make it colorful. So I started writing Crumbs from the Table of Joy to try to understand that era."