Jan 23, 2004  |  By: PATRICK FOLLIARD  | COMMENTS     

LIKE ME, YOU have no doubt noticed with admiration, the sartorial effort — particularly in the millinery department — made by many black women when they head out for church services on Sunday morning. In boaters, cloches, derbies, and cartwheels, ostrich feathers, sequins, bows, and veils, the church ladies elegantly carry off a fashion statement that, for the most part, has been abandoned by the majority of other devotees of style.

Through “Crowns,” a soulfully inspiring and spirited musical play written and directed by Regina Taylor (best known as Lilly Harper on television’s “I’ll Fly Away”), the important tradition of these hats and the character of some of the strong ladies who wear them is revealed nightly in a rousing production at Arena Stage’s Kreeger Theatre.

The show is adapted from Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry’s book, also titled “Crowns.” Inspired by the authors’ mothers, the book brings together black and white portraits of hat-wearing black women alongside interviews featuring memories and philosophies on why wearing a hat to Sunday worship is socially, culturally and — biblically — the right thing to do.

On stage, “Crowns” is structured around the Sunday experience of the average churchgoing black woman. Taylor describes “Crowns” as “a gospel music driven piece … a crazy quilt of music and movement and storytelling that takes us through the rituals of a Sunday in the South with characters breaking out of the framework to deliver ‘arias,’ direct addresses to the audience that may start in the Sunday church service but jump off into memories of life experiences in different times and different places.”

The plot revolves around Yolanda, an out-of-control Brooklyn teen. After her brother Teddy is gunned down, her mother sends her down South to live with her grandmother. It’s through listening to hat stories told by her grandmother and the other “hat queens” that Yolanda, sporting her brother’s red baseball cap backwards, reluctantly learns a sense of tradition among black women without losing her individuality.

WHETHER IT’S THE story about the blind woman who raised eight kids and always wore a hat to church, or the one about the proud young woman who buys an expensive hat in a store that was previously whites-only, Yolanda hears tales about proud women striving against adversity and succeeding.

But make no mistake, “Crowns” isn’t all about saints and drudges. One character half-jokingly says, “I’d lend my children before I lend my hat. My children know their way home.” Another woman owns so many hats it’s causing trouble in her marriage. She tells her husband that the hats aren’t going.

“Crowns” features a cast of seven with talent, energy, and panache to spare. Desire DuBose beautifully portrays Yolanda’s journey from a reckless rebel to a young woman with a purpose.

As Mother Shaw, Tina Fabrique is the matriarch, stalwart and wise. Gail Grate plays Wanda, a woman who prides herself on what constitutes a proper topper.

Lynda Gravatt is Mabel, the preacher’s wife, who won’t let a new hat stop her from vigorously praising the Lord. Local favorite Bernadine Mitchell playfully portrays Velma. And Karan Kendrick is Jeanette, the youngest of the church ladies.
John Steven Crowley portrays the various men in the ladies’ lives. At different times, he is rascally, stern, or simply poignant.

Costume designer Emilio Sosa’s hats are all fabulous. Ranging from a fox fur heirloom to a towering, glittery showstopper, his collection of beautiful crowns allows for all this fuss over hats to make perfect sense.