"If you're going to present a play about great American artists -- Etta James, Bessie Smith, Zora Neale Hurston, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker, Phyllis Hyman, Mahalia Jackson -- you have to have the right ingredients. AT LAST: CELEBRATING THE LIVES OF SOUL SISTERS does just that. Tonight, we audience members all had the privilege of spending an intimate little visit with each of these women in a bar -- as well as with June Jordan and Michelle Obama -- as they reminisce about a transformative moment in their lives, giving us a poignant insight into them and, thanks to the playwright's vision and poetry, so much more. A beautiful, distilled script by the incomparable Dr. Mary E. Weems, elegant direction by Ashley Aquilla, and powerful performances by Christina Johnson, Sherrie Tolliver, India Pierre-Ingram, Sha'ton La'Tique and Corin B. Self as the bartender.

"This production closes tomorrow at Ensemble Theatre. But this multifaceted theater jewel will shine again in many places, just like the brilliance of these American icons continues to do."

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- Christopher Johnston