Earlier this month I was asked to sing in a theater production on campus entitled "The Seamstress of St. Francis Street" (based off of the film). It is an African-American production that takes place in Missouri in the 1950s, so I was very excited to see how it would be performed in Ghana. I had the opportunity to learn a little about how Ghanaians perceive African-Americans as they played some stereotypical roles and acted out a little finger-snapping and head shaking every now and then.
The production took place from Thursday to Sunday for two weeks and there were even two guest artists from the States who served as alternates. One was Andrea Purnell from Missouri who actually plays the main character in the film, and the other was Professor James Fay from New York who also played a big role for a few nights. I was actually quite impressed by how well the Ghanaian actors picked up on various cultural markers and societal challenges of that time. There are different scenes and attitudes in the play that would be difficult to translate to the audience without some general understanding of the experiences of the characters.
More importantly, I gained friends from this experience that I will stay connected to for a lifetime. For a while I forgot how good it feels to be surrounded by artistic people with outgoing personalities. I have met some of the most generous people in these few weeks alone, and I can't wait to come back to the States and show off their work.
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