Delana Flowers in
Sojourner Being cast as a historical figure is one thing, but getting approval from the figure's descendents adds a whole other level. This is what happened when Delana Flowers took on the role of Sojourner Truth for
Sojourner, a new production at Pittsburgh’s Prime Stage Theatre.
Set in 1851, the one-woman show, written by Richard LaMonte Pierce, stars Flowers as the abolitionist preparing to give her most famous speech at a women's rights conference in Akron, Ohio.
“While I am waiting to go out and speak, a Black journalist comes in and wants to do a short greeting,” says Flowers, a local performer, writer, and teaching assistant. “The play is me talking to this journalist and recalling different things in my life.”