UIC Theatre presents ‘The Bluest Eye’

A scene from “The Bluest Eye.” Left to right: Ciera Alexander, Chiagoziem Nwakanma, and Jazzlyn Luckett.

During Black History Month, UIC Theatre explores the earliest work of the first African-American woman to receive the Nobel Prize in literature. Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” questions the interplay of race, gender and class and the power of physical beauty in American society. This adaptation of Morrison’s novel, by Lydia Diamond, is directed by Derrick Sanders, assistant professor of theatre at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

[Note: Photos for download at http://newsphoto.lib.uic.edu/v/The+Bluest+Eye/]

WHEN:
Feb. 22, 23, 28 and March 1 and 2 at 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 24 and March 3 at 2 p.m.; and Feb. 27 at noon.

WHERE:
UIC Theatre
1044 W. Harrison St.

DETAILS:
Set in Morrison’s hometown of Lorain, Ohio, in 1941, “The Bluest Eye” portrays impressionable 11-year-old Pecola. She believes blue eyes and light skin would save her from her alcoholic father’s rages, her mother’s bitterness, and the ridicule of her family and schoolmates. Her story is narrated by her neighbor Claudia, whose stable family life allows her to see how Pecola’s life is disintegrating.

This stage adaptation of the novel was commissioned by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

Admission is $16, $11 for students with current ID. For ticket information, call (312) 996-2939.

Director Derrick Sanders, named 2005’s “Chicagoan of the Year” in theater by the Chicago Tribune, is the founding artistic director of Congo Square Theatre Company. His most recent credits include: August Wilson’s 20th Century Cycle at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” at Baltimore’s Center Stage, “Elmina’s Kitchen” and “Stick Fly” with True Colors Theatre in Atlanta, and his off-Broadway debut of “King Hedley II” at the Signature Theatre. He participated in August Wilson’s premieres of “Radio Golf” and “Gem of the Ocean” on Broadway, at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago.