Sistas tells of the struggles, the joy and the triumphs of being Black and of being woman in America
Set after the death of an African-American matriarch, the women in her family (three very different sisters, one white sister-in-law and the teenage daughter of one of the sisters) clean Grandma’s attic and prepare to say goodbye to the woman who helped shape them into the women they are today. In the process, the “sistas” trace the history of African-American women through music, from the trials of the 1930s to the girl groups of the 1960s to the empowerment of the 1990s.
Using the lyrics of songs made famous by artists like Ma Rainey, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Beyoncé and many others, Sistas tells of the struggles, the joy and the triumphs of being Black and of being woman in America, as told through the life of one woman and the women in her family. Moving from the days of Jim Crow to the present, the narrative is presented through songs like "Strange Fruit," "Society’s Child," and "Taint Nobody’s Business," right up to the present with more contemporary songs of worth and independence such as "I am Not My Hair" by India Arie, Alicia Keys’ "A Woman’s Worth," and "Golden" by Jill Scott.
"[An] evening with plenty of humor and some impressive voices."
The New York Times
Anita Gates
