Magnolia, atlanta and dr. Martin luther king jr. a ... - Goodman Theatre

IN THE ALBERT
From the Artistic Director
Photo by Eric Y. Exit.
Why Magnolia?
Regina Taylor’s magnificent new play, Magnolia, offers a look at a time of seismic change in American society, in
a city that was at the epicenter of that change. Atlanta in 1963 was in many ways typical of American cities of
the time: a thriving cultural and social center for both black and white Americans, but one in which those societies
existed steadfastly apart from each other in worlds that rarely intersected. When in January of 1963 the mayor of the
city erected a physical barricade meant to maintain racial separation, the ramifications in both the black and white
communities were immediate and unsettling, causing an inexorable change that epitomized the social revolutions that
would consume the rest of the decade—and beyond.
Although it is inspired in part by Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, Magnolia is the wholly American story of the families
and individuals who were forced to finally deal with generational, societal and political issues that had been brewing
for decades, through generations of genteel coexistence. As the world evolves, its inhabitants struggle to find their
own voices in the face of evolution, with results that are both devastating and triumphant. In doing so, each character
in the play must come to terms with the changes of the present as well as the issues of the past that have both
divided and united them. As she has done so eloquently in such other works as Crowns and The Dreams of Sarah
Breedlove, Regina imbues each of her characters with passion, grace and poetry, honoring their individual and collective
struggles with dignity and compassion.
It is a great pleasure for me to welcome Regina back to the Goodman where she has created some of our most distinguished
works, and to pair her with Anna Shapiro, one of our country’s finest directors. In the aftermath of one
of the most historic elections in America’s history, it is especially fitting that these artists and their gifted collaborators
can take us back to another time of unprecedented change and possibility, through the finely wrought language and
indelible images of Magnolia.
Robert Falls
Artistic Director
1