A decade has passed since Regina Taylor's ‘Crowns' premiered. Back then our nation was dealing with the after effects of 9/11 and those nurturing, church going matriarchs, proudly wearing their bedazzled hats and singing of a greater glory, had an amazing tertiary healing effect on the audiences going through the trauma of those events. For 2012, ‘Crowns' has been made a bit more Chicago-centric. In the current production now playing to packed houses at the Goodman, Englewood teenager Yolanda has become a product of her environment. After her brother and mentor is shot and killed by a "friend", her mother sends her to Darlington,South Carolina to live with her grandmother (Felicia Fields). Let the cross-culture chaos begin.
The saying, "it takes a village" is proven true here as grandma's church-community embraces rebellious Yolanda and attempts to instill in her a sense of pride. With their magnificent hats atop their quaffed (and not so quaffed) hair, the ladies tell there individual stories of over coming oppression, dealing with loss, finding the simple joys in life and more importantly, living for a higher purpose. Each of these woman are symbols of strength and dignity and their ‘crowns' are as much a part of their history as the Holy Book itself.