CHESTERTOWN, MD—On March 16, the Core Ensemble will bring its one-woman show “Ain’t I a Woman!” to the Decker Theatre stage at Washington College. This meld of chamber music and theater celebrates the lives and accomplishments of four remarkable African American women— novelist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, ex-slave and abolitionist Sojourner Truth, folk artist Clementine Hunter, and civil rights worker Fannie Lou Hamer. The performance will begin at 7:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public. 

The Core Ensemble, known for developing a performance genre that combines chamber music and theater narrative, has toured internationally since 1995.  In this production of “Ain’t I a Woman,” actress Christy Hall portrays all four characters, accompanied by a chamber music trio of cello, piano, and percussion.  According to the Core Ensemble’s website, “The musical score is drawn from the heartfelt spirituals and blues of the Deep South, the urban vitality of the Jazz Age, and contemporary concert music by African Americans.”

The production is sponsored by the College’s Holstein Program in Ethics, William James Forum, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Black Studies Program, Gender Studies Program, and Departments of Drama, Sociology, Anthropology and Music.