The Color Purple

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August 2-4, 2024

at MATCH (Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston)

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Music and Lyrics by: Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray

Book by: Marsha Norman

Based on the novel by: Alice Walker

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A Co-Production with The Sankofa Collective

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​​​​​The Garden Theatre and The Sankofa Collective joined forces to bring the beautiful story of The Color Purple to the stage. This musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel spotlights Celie, a downtrodden young woman whose personal awakening over the course of 35 years forms the arc of this epic story. With a joyous score featuring jazz, ragtime, gospel, African music and blues, The Color Purple is a story of hope, a testament to the healing power of love, and a celebration of life.

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In the early 1900s in rural Georgia, Celie is a teenager giving birth for the second time. When her father offers her to a local farmer in need of a woman to raise his children, she is torn from her beloved younger sister and begins to learn about the world outside her family’s humble residence. As years pass by, Celie becomes resigned to her unfortunate lot in life, but when newcomers Sofia and Shug enter and bring their fresh perspective, she begins to understand that there must be more to life.