Theatre: The story of gospel singing sensation Mahalia Jackson (Feb. 21-24)

As part of its fifth season, Kalamazoo’s Face Off Theatre Company presents the story of Mahalia Jackson, the gospel singer who became the musical voice of the civil rights movement. If you’re unfamiliar with her, watch her blow Dr. Martin Luther King’s mind on YouTube. Then take in her story and the gospel songs she made famous with Face Off’s “Mahalia,” at the Joliffe Theater, in The Epic Center, downtown.

Face Off Theatre Company was formed in 2015, by a group of black women directors, playwrights, and actors associated with WMU’s theater department. “There weren't a lot of platforms for us to tell our stories, the kind of stories that we wanted to tell,” the company’s co-founder, Bianca Washington, told 2nd Wave, in an excellent, recent profile piece.

For more on what to expect from “Mahalia,” listen to director/co-founder Marissa Harrington’s interview with WMUK, which also explores Face Off's “mission to put diverse stories and diverse characters on stage, to collaborate with other organizations in outreach efforts, and to get audiences involved after every show by offering ‘talkbacks’ with the cast.”

In 2019 the company is thriving, and it has influenced other local arts organizations to be more thoughtful about their own choices of what to produce and whose stories to present. You can buy tickets here.