Black Pearl Sings

Frank Higgins’ play with music follows the Depression-era journey of two extraordinary women, each of whom is dependent on the other to gain acceptance in society. In 1935 Texas, Susannah, a Caucasian academic and song collector for the Library of Congress, visits a high-security prison where she meets Pearl, an African-American woman imprisoned for murder. Hoping to record the treasure trove of spirituals and African folk songs that only Pearl knows, Susannah bargains for Pearl’s parole and arranges for several public performances. The two women soon find themselves walking a delicate line between exposure and exploitation. Featuring beautiful, live, a cappella renditions of little-known American folk songs, Black Pearl Sings chronicles a powerful story about being a woman in a man’s world, being Black in a White world, and fighting for one’s soul in a world where anyone can be a commodity.

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