Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye' November 10, 2007

October 11 through November 11, 2007.

Lorraine Hansberry Theatre's 27th season will start
in October with the West Coast Premiere of The Bluest Eye, Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison's stunning first novel, adapted for the stage by Lydia R. Diamond, and directed by guest director Walter Dallas, the artistic director of Philadelphia's New Freedom Theatre.

The Bluest Eye is the tragic tale of a young black girl in 1940s Ohio. Eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove wants nothing more than to be loved by her family and schoolmates. Instead, she faces constant ridicule and abuse. She blames her dark skin and prays for blue eyes, sure that love will follow.

Adapter Lydia Diamond says "It's very simple. The Bluest Eye is the story of a young African American girl and her family who are affected in every direction by the dominant American culture that says to them, 'You're not beautiful; you're not relevant; you're invisible; you don't even count.' That is what is painful in the novel -- the way in which our country has dealt with race, the way in which the power structure has hurt us, AND the way in which it has made us (African Americans) hurt ourselves."

The extraordinary beauty of Morrison's writing, its rich narrative and musicality, is brought imaginatively to life through simple austere staging. With the beauty of the language and the writer's bold vision intact, this powerful adaptation of an American classic explores the crippling toll of racism on a community, a family, and an innocent girl.

Read the SFgate review of the play.

Official Website: http://www.lorrainehansberrytheatre.com/be07.htm