Play gaining fans and accolades
“Mama’s Girls,” the latest production by local playwright Garrett Davis, recently won two awards. The play, which centers around the struggle sisters face in caring for an aging parent, has received the 2012 Urban Theater Award from the (Washington) DC Black Theater Festival. It will kickoff the 2013 DC Black Theater Festival in June.
Davis was presented with the Pioneer Award at the Inaugural Playwrights Ball in Charlotte in March. He won the honor for the unique way he raised awareness of the issues that caregivers face in “Mama’s Girls.” The play stars Davis, Kynya Milam, Latoya Simms, Julie Logan, Keya Hamilton and Tony Award nominee Samantha McSwain. In select markets, four-time Grammy winner Regina Belle will join the cast. Belle, whose hits include “Make it Like it Was” and “If I Could,” made her debut Mother’s Day Weekend before near-capacity crowds in Greensboro at the Carolina Theatre and the US Cellular Center in Asheville. “Mama’s Girls” will be featured at ARSTSCAPE in Baltimore, Md. in July and the Atlanta Black Theater Festival in October. It will be a featured presentation for the National Baptist Congress in Phoenix, Ari. and the AME Zion National Conference in Montgomery, Ala. in July. The play’s 2013 tour will end in Winston-Salem in the fall. It will be the featured gospel production at Winston-Salem State University’s 2013 Homecoming. To learn more about the play, go to www.mamasgirls.net.