Letters from Zora at Pasadena Playhouse

Boy that Saturday was a looooong day! Left the house at 8:30 am, drove to Rancho Mirage to pick up some appliances, into Palm Springs for wonderful lunch with friends, then back to LA for delivery. Next, over to Union Station to pick up a friend, then up to Pasadena for dinner and to this play. Didn’t back home until 11pm, PHEW!
I had never heard of Zora Neale Hurston, but I’m glad I was able to learn about her through this play. This was an interesting look at the life of a very strong, stubborn, yet amazing woman who lived life the way she wanted, in spite of society trying to get her to conform. All performed in one 90 minute act by a remarkable actress, Vanessa Bell Calloway. Just awesome!
The Pasadena Playhouse has had quite a history itself! First opened in 1924 and dedicated as the official State Theatre In 1937 by our state legislature, it has hosted numerous heavy hitting performances over the years. After founding director Gilmore Brown died, the theatre went bankrupt and closed in 1969. Fortunately a very dedicated group of people kept the theatre from being destroyed. Then after tremendous efforts from numerous groups and the city of Pasadena, the Playhouse was finally reopened in 1985.
The Playhouse is in need of an update, at least to the seating anyway. All of the padding is completely worn out, flat and adds zero cush/​comfort to the old wooden seats. They were quite uncomfortable by time the 90 minute show ended.
That said…
Thank you SO much to the beautiful Pasadena Playhouse and Brandon in the ticket office for the awesome seats, Unilocal and of course the incredible Miss Katie B for inviting us to this performance!

Thanks again to Katie B. at Unilocal for the free tickets!!!
I am a fan of Zora Neale Hurston’s work and was very pleased to have been able see this play. It’s been a long time coming— if you think of all the hardships and triumphs this remarkable author had experienced.
My sweetie and I thoroughly enjoyed the play. My only complaint are the chairs at the Pasadena Playhouse — which are in sad shape.

I am so happy that I had the honor of going to this show. A true and warm shout out to Katie B. for making this happen.
Letters from Zora is a one woman show led by the amazing Vanessa Bell Calloway based on the fabulous life of Ms. Zora Neale Hurston. Zora Neale Hurston is most famously known as the author of «Their Eyes Were Watching God», which was translated to a movie starring Halle Berry and Oprah Winfrey. What most people don’t know, myself included, is that she was also an anthropologist and loved traveling and learning. She was also very opinionated and somewhat of a feminist. Everything that makes a woman a heroine!
Vanessa Bell Calloway was truly outstanding as Zora Neale Hurston. Her southern accent was perfect and she invoked emotion as she spoke every word as Ms. Zora.
I highly recommend this show, especially if you want a fresh take on a very important time in history that is always overlooked, the Harlem Renaissance.

Going to watch the play without any knowledge of it and enjoying it very much. It was not just about the life of Zora. Her story was the story of what African American women went through in her era. Zora died broke, nevertheless, nothing stopped her from living a life that she desired. In her own inspiring words «I have the nerve to walk my own way, however hard, in my search for reality, rather than climb upon the rattling wagon of wishful illusions.» What an inspiring example for all of us to learn from. Kudos to Zora and also Vanessa Bell Calloway who kept us entertaining for 90 minutes.

This play Letters from Zora was simply exquisite. I loved every minute of it. I had heard about Zora Neale Hurston because I read one of her books «Their eyes were watching God.» She spoke her truths and wouldn’t let anyone put her down. Her tongue was sharp as knife and it stung. Even in the final chapters of her life when she had to work as a maid she held her head up and she continue to do what she loved which was writing. She lived her life the she saw fit for her and she was happy and yes she made enemies along the way but she lived a life with no regrets.
The setting was perfect as well. The Pasadena Playhouse small and quaint the seats that I had I was able to see and hear perfect. Thank you that was a birthday and mother’s day gift all in one.
Katie B and Unilocal thank you so much for these tickets.

It was an interesting look at a life of a strong woman who strived live a life of her own design despite a society that often try to control her — performed by one remarkable actress.

Wow… is the first word I can describe this play. I just saw this play this afternoon at 4 pm with my husband (thank you Katie B. for the tickets!). I am a big fan of the arts and really enjoy watching all kinds of plays but really didn’t know what to think about this play. To be honest, I didn’t even know who Zora Neale Hurston was but wanted to check out this play anyways.
Zora Neale Hurston is a famous American author who wrote books including Their Eyes Were Watching God (I apologize that I did not do this book justice in high school and cheated by reading the cliff notes but promise to read this book from cover to cover one day). Zora Neale Hurston went through plenty of difficulty, harsh criticism and discrimination in her life time and through this play (which really is more of a monologue, as there is only 1 actress on stage and speaking the entire time) you begin to learn about her life story.
Starring the incredibly talented Vanessa Bell Calloway, she really does an amazing job of breathing life into who I would imagine Ms. Zora Neale Hurston to be. She had the right amount of spunk, sass, personality and presences to really make her come alive. Her monologue (that last about 80 or so minutes) really sounded quite natural and at the perfect pace. She was humorous at times (multiple times actually) and also emotional as well. Towards the end of the play, I really could feel Zora Neale Hurston’s real pain when she was faced with such horrible discrimination when she was accused for something she could not have committed (you will see when you watch this play).
In the end, I really felt I learned a lot about Zora Neale Hurston that had lead me to do some of my own research about her as she really seems like such a well accomplished woman with a rather interesting life (she lied about her age when she was young so that she could go to college early and I think that is pretty gutsy but a bold move worth mentioning).
Just a few things to highlight about this play:
–Total running time is about 90 minutes with NO intermission
–There is rather a lot of monologue (pretty impressive that this actress was able to deliver it so well) so if you are the type of person to get lost in plays like this, this may not be the best play for you (including your date for the play… my husband was rather bored in the 1^st 30 minutes of the play starting)
–Bring a jacket, as the playhouse can get pretty chilly
Overall, really enjoyed the play, it was really a great late afternoon learning some history and one woman’s amazing life story.