The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/2/09 Section: Out & About

Media Credit: Renée Aylworth The Black Theatrical Ensemble's focuses on works written by African American playwrights. [Click to enlarge]

Delicate hopes and dreams get weathered and tried in the University's Black Theatrical Ensemble's production of Lynn Nottage's award-winning play, "Intimate Apparel."

Set in Manhattan in 1905, the play follows Esther, a talented black seamstress who sews exquisite undergarments for clients as varied as a prostitute named Mayme and a high-society wife named Mrs. Van Buren.

Though Esther assists many women on their wedding days, she grows increasingly anxious of her own spinsterhood.

"When we first meet her, she's very insecure, almost self-loathing," Ashley Treadwell, a senior playing the lead role said. "Esther is very relatable. I feel that everyone who sees the show can find something in her that reminds them of themselves."

And it's not that there aren't men in Esther's life already. She develops a rapport with the local Jewish fabric merchant, Mr. Marks.



Then comes a correspondence of letters between her and a man working on the Panama Canal named George. Aided by Mrs. Van Buren, Esther gradually becomes wrapped up in an illusive romance that is deflated when the two finally meet in person.

"Basically, it's a 1905 version of an Internet hook-up gone wrong," said Elliot Dixon, a sophomore from Lithonia who plays George. "Esther falls in love with the idea of George and not necessarily George."

Faced with this disheartening reality check, Esther must now find the strength to break from the fantasy.

"Through the course of the play, she emerges as more self-aware and comfortable in her own skin," Treadwell said. "I think the play is about finding oneself."

The production is helmed by Ph.D. student Kalina Bakalova, who previously worked with Dixon in last year's "Topdog/Underdog." She also designed the costumes, which are utilized symbolically.

"I wanted to emphasize the character's choices and to capture the exquisiteness of a fabric and its design," Bakalova said. "Fabric is a symbol in the play."

Touching on subjects such as Mrs. Van Buren's repressed home life to George and Esther's run-ins with racism, "Intimate Apparel" unravels as a tale of complicated love during a socially problematic time.

"Although the story is seemingly simple, the play touches on very controversial racial and social themes and [Nottage] does it from a very contemporary view," Bakalova said.

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