One-woman tour de force lights up stage

Big Sky Productions explores the African-American experience in ‘Pretty Fire’

BLOOMINGBURG, NY — The Bloomingburg Restoration Foundation will present Big Sky Productions in a performance of the critically acclaimed “Pretty Fire” at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 7 at the Bloomingburg Restoration Foundation Arts & Cultural Center at 110 Main Street.

“Pretty Fire” is a one-woman show written by Charlayne Woodard. In five vignettes, she traces her life from premature birth to 11 years old, weaving the stories of two young sisters in Albany, NY; of Ku Klux Klan riders burning a cross (the “pretty fire” of the title) in the hilltop town of Rosignol Hill, Georgia; and of three generations of family love, struggle and triumph. It is a mesmerizing experience of contemporary African-American life.

The New York Times said “Pretty Fire” is “Exhilarating and unflaggingly entertaining… One of the most positive pictures of the black-American experience I’ve ever seen on stage…” Newsday called it “inspiring, illuminating and engrossing,” and the L.A. Times called it “a remarkable feat of writing and performing—a rare autobiographical tour de force so lustrous it seems to reinvent the whole solo-acting genre.”

This production is directed by Carol Montana, Big Sky Productions’ artistic director, and features DeLois “Cookie” House as Charlayne Woodard. House has been in several shows for Big Sky Productions including “Jake’s Women,” “An American Daughter,” “Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters’ First Hundred Years” and, most recently, “The Exonerated.” In “Pretty Fire,” House plays an astounding 25 characters.

This performance of “Pretty Fire” is part of the Bloomingburg Restoration Foundation’s series “Storytelling: The Link with our Past, Present and Future.” Additional performances in the series are upcoming.

Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 for teenagers.

For more information call 845/733-2755. Leave a message and your call will be returned.