The chamber musical is a journey of self-love, storytelling, and finding one’s purpose. The central character is a fiercely independent woman named Key, a woman Zora would want to see. Two female interlocutors, Sophie (a Black woman), and Draft (a white woman) want to author the story of Key. They write her as a hard working Black woman who runs two businesses – a one-chair beauty shop and an inherited boarding house. When they introduce the character of shoe shine salesman Malik who rents a room in Key’s place, the writers’ inventions rebel and change up the story. The musical romp is inspired by Zora Neale Hurston’s essays “Characteristics of Negro Expression” and “How it Feels to be Colored Me.”
Dramaturg Jordan Ealey writes: “ZORA ON MY MIND is a musical journey of self-love, storytelling, and finding one’s purpose. Gonzalez’s book and Lawrence’s music pierce the soul, taking audiences on a blues-filled trek. Inspired by the work of (Harlem) Renaissance woman Zora Neale Hurston, ZORA ON MY MIND fights against prescriptive narratives around race and gender and challenges the notion of what music theatre can and does look like. A wonderful four-character journey, designed for choreographic exploration and innovative staging opportunities.”
Synopsis
Draft and Sophie, two feisty woman spirits, one white and one black, invent a character (in the spirit of Zora) name KEY. KEY is a dispirited Black woman who owns a beauty chair she calls a shop and rents out rooms for cash after cleaning up white folks’ houses in Washington DC. She is tired. When Sophie and Draft create shoeshine salesman Malik, KEY takes him in as a “boarder”. Malik witnesses KEY’s entrepreneurial “Thankful Thursdays,” sparks fly, and together they compete in a local dance competition for a cash prize. Draft and Sophie whip up the dance event. At the height of the competition, Malik pisses KEY off by ignoring her sexy come-on moves. KEY storms off and Malik consoles her by telling her about the hard knocks of his life. To make amends, he helps KEY with her next Thankful Thursday. Sophie and Draft want to make things better for their created characters, so they invent a surprise caller who invites KEY to NYC to design hair for a high-energy beauty show. KEY wins, and when she returns, Malik is strangely compliant. He cooks for KEY and wants to spend his life with her. KEY realizes she is being manipulated by the world and she gently dismissed first the writers, and then her paramour Malik. After a ritual of self affirmation, KEY finally settles into a soft comfortable chair, and rests.