TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s production of “Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer” is slated to run through April 2 at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto.
Award-winning actor Greta Oglesby plays the title role in Cheryl L. West’s one-woman show. Tim Bond directs.
Based on a true story, “Fannie” traces Hamer’s journey from sharecropper to co-founding the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and becoming an outspoken voice for African American voting rights.
The musical features songs such as “This Little Light of Mine” and “We Shall Not Be Moved.”
Oglesby last season starred in TheatreWorks’ “Gem of the Ocean,” also directed by Bond, who is the company’s artistic director.
Winner of Ivey, Joseph Jefferson and Black Theatre Alliance awards, Oglesby was the standby for Phylicia Rashad for “A Raisin in the Sun” on Broadway, originated the role of Aunt Ester in the world premiere of “Gem of the Ocean” at the Goodman Theatre and performed in “A Night with Jeanine Tesori” at Lincoln Center.
“Fannie,” commissioned by the Goodman Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre, has been performed at regional theaters throughout the country.
Performances are scheduled 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road.
Tickets start at $30.
For tickets and more information, call (877) 662-8978 or visit TheatreWorks.org.
