Face Off Theatre Company is set to close its season with a production of Lynn Nottage’s Crumbs from the Table of Joy, opening December 6 at the Jolliffe Theatre in Kalamazoo’s Epic Center. Directed by Arizia Staton, the play features a cast of five. The show runs across two weekends, with performances on December 6, 7, 14, and 15, offering both evening and matinee options.
In a conversation with Cara Lieurance, Staton and actress Arise Rock describe the period play's 1950 setting, and how the playwright explores themes of grief, identity, family, and racial tensions through the lens of a Black family that relocates from Florida to Brooklyn following the loss of the mother. The character of 17-year-old Ernestine Crump, played by Rock, navigates her own journey of self-discovery as her father (played by Tim Baker) immerses himself into the ideology of the real-life religious figure Father Divine. Staton says that Nottage creates hilarious moments in her tale of five authentic and very different characters.
Tickets are available online at faceofftheatre.com or by phone at 269-250-6984. The community box office operates from 10 AM to 6 PM.
