Promise of a Love Song
1999 - Roadside Theater, Junebug Productions & Pregones Theater
Promise of a Love Song interweaves three love stories, each from the particular culture of the play’s creators: Pregones Theater, a Puerto Rican company based in the Bronx; Junebug Productions, an African American theater based in New Orleans; and Roadside Theater. The play is performed by six actors with a six-piece band playing jazz, boleros, salsa, and Appalachian bluegrass and Old Time.
Promise of a Love Song interweaves three love stories, each from the particular culture of the play’s creators: Pregones Theater, a Puerto Rican company based in the Bronx; Junebug Productions, an African American theater based in New Orleans; and Roadside Theater. The play is performed by six actors with a six-piece band playing jazz, boleros, salsa, and Appalachian bluegrass and Old Time.
The Appalachian love story looks at the relationship between a mother and a son afflicted with epilepsy, and their struggle to help each other in a world growing apart from them. The African American love story is about a man and woman’s relationship shaped by the Civil Rights Movement. In the third love story, a father and his daughter struggle to survive in a new home far away from their family in Puerto Rico.
Promise of a Love Song was created after years of exchange in which members of each theater company visited and worked in each others’ home communities. It's creation, production, and touring was supported by Theresa Holden and the Artist and Community Connection in Austin, Texas.
Commentary
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“The most important thing (in Promise of a Love Song) was the collaboration, the breaking down of walls. It was refreshing to see something like this on stage.”
The Journal Star, Lincoln, NE
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“There’s love, laughter, heartfelt music, and finally, a genuine poignancy.”
The Dayton Daily News, Dayton, OH
