On Stage, an outreach program that aims to educate students on the importance of theater, recently visited Century College to hold a discussion on “The Color Purple,” an ongoing play at Theater Latté Da. On Stage has been to Century College in the past, bringing awareness to different productions each time.

The traveling troupe of On Stage educators, Harry Waters Jr., Warren Bowles, and Wendy Knox, along with Lucas Erickson, the founder and program manager for On Stage, were hosted by Professor Corey Culver’s Introduction to Sociology class. The discussion was insightful, prompting the participants to think more deeply about the issues that are presented in “The Color Purple,” a play that exposes deeply rooted societal issues through telling the story of a Black woman living in the South in the 20th century. As described on the On Stage website:

“Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker and adapted for the stage by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Marsha Norman, this stirring family chronicle follows the inspirational Celie as she journeys from childhood through joy and despair, anguish, and hope, to discover her own unique voice and place in the world. Set in the rural South between 1909 – 1947, the female characters in The Color Purple live in a male dominated society, where a woman’s role resembles that of a slave or a sex object. Most of the black male characters dominate women and do so in a violent and oppressive manner. They are not only physically violent but sexually and emotionally abusive, making the women with whom they live feel fearful, worthless, and inferior with no sense of freedom. But as things progress, the women in The Color Purple start to challenge these traditional male-female roles as a strength of unity.”

Through thought provoking activities, such as reading and analyzing excerpts from the script, discussing the way music can trigger memories, and talking about significance of letter writing (an important element to the story), the educators at On Stage helped create a safe space for the students to hold dialogue about the gut-churning discrimination the characters in the play face, and to share about the women in their lives they look up to. 

For more information about On Stage, try checking out their website: https://www.onstagemn.org/

To learn more about Theater Latté Da, go to: https://www.latteda.org/