/Theatre
Crumbs from the Table of Joy
Apr 26 - May 25, 2025
See ticket link for times. Also available to stream May 20-25
510/843-4822
Event WebsiteAbout
After Ernestine Crump’s mother dies, her father relocates the family from Pensacola to Brooklyn in a frenzied search for spiritual enlightenment. There, the Crumps find themselves right in the heart of the shifting social politics of 1950s America, which land on their doorstep in the form of unmarried, hard-drinking, Communist-leaning Aunt Lily. Through the observations and narration of Ernestine, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage weaves the tumultuous interplay of race, sex, politics, religion, and post-war sentiment of the era into a colorful and poignant story of one family’s heartbreak, resilience, and joy.
SF/Arts Curator Insight
Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage (“Ruined” and “Sweat”) set this African-American family drama/memory play in 1950 Brooklyn, where a grieving and increasingly religious widower and his two teenage daughters have relocated from the South. Seventeen-year-old Ernestine narrates, so it’s partly a coming-of-age story. Communist-leaning Aunt Lily arrives, Dad suddenly marries a white woman, and more. Elizabeth Carter directs for Aurora Theatre.
Jean Schiffman
Contributing Writer, Theater
Aurora Theatre Company