Overview
After committing an unforgivable crime, Leroy is granted one final wish: a chance to make amends with his long-lost lover, Berta. Their reunion swells from a quarrelsome conjuring of the past to an impassioned plot to escape their impending fate.
Casting & Production
Casting
LEROY — African American, a smoldering wanderer
BERTA — African American, a young widow
Setting
Berta’s home in Meridian, Mississippi
May 1st, 1923. From 2 AM to sunrise
Reviews
“Chéri drenches her dialogue in the poetry of the earth to match the earthiness of the characters. Though this is a realistic play, there is a dollop of reverie, fantasy, and, toward the end, magic.”
—Tim Treanor, DC Theatre Scene
“A riveting, gut-wrenching fable of two lovers trapped in Mississippi’s Jim Crow south … a tale of personal tragedy … a drama that also shows us how easily blacks—of any era can be demonized, imprisoned, and see all their dreams destroyed. It’s a fable, but it’s also history, and it is also—damningly—our present.”
—Andrew Walker White, DC Metro Theater Arts
“Though Berta, Berta contains seeds of hope, it will break your heart.”
—J. Wynn Rousuck, WYPR
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