Jamar Gilbert and Amber Liekhus [Photo by Daniel Reichert]
There is no matinee on opening day. Saturday matinees at 2 p.m. begin the following week.
The production, which began four preview performances Aug. 23, is the seventh play the company has staged from Wilson’s 10-play American Century Cycle.
Gregg T. Daniel directs, with Amber Liekhus as Ma Rainey and Jamar Gilbert as Levee. The cast also includes Kai A. Ealy, Gerald C. Rivers, Alex Morris, Bert Emmett, Matt Foyer, CJ Obilom, Francis C. Edemobi and James Nardini. Byron Smith is music director.
Wilson set the play during a 1927 Chicago recording session in which the blues singer contends with white producers over control of her music and her career.
“It’s like a rep company — the returning actors understand Wilson’s rhythms and musicality, so they teach newcomers what the Wilsonian world requires,” Daniel said in materials provided by the theater.
NEED TO KNOW
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” plays at A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, through Sunday, Sept. 20, at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; opening night, Saturday, Aug. 29, carries no matinee. Tickets start at $41.75 including fees, with student tickets from $20, at anoisewithin.org. Parking is free at the Sierra Madre Villa Parking Structure, 149 N. Halstead St.; exit at Level 1 on the Sierra Madre Villa Avenue side and follow the walkway between the apartment complex and the theatre building. The venue is within steps of the Metro A Line Sierra Madre Villa station and is cashless, taking debit and credit cards only. The box office, 626-356-3121, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 2 to 6 p.m. and two hours before curtain on performance days.
