Newcity Stage

Theater, Dance, Comedy and Performance in Chicago

“Gee’s Bend” Tells the Story of a Southern Quilting Town During Jim Crow Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre builds a stunning production around an incomplete story.

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by Tristan Bruns
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Three women on stage act out a scene with quilts and laundry baskets. One stands in a white dress, looking frustrated; another sits and gestures, and the third smiles while folding clothes. The backdrop is colorful and artistic.

Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre’s “Gee’s Bend,” with Jasmine Robertson, Kaitlyn Fields and Toccara Castleman/Photo: Basil Clunie

Based on a rural Black Belt community in Alabama famous for its tradition of quilt making by generations of African-American women, “Gee’s Bend,” written by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder and presented by Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre through June 7 at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, is a realistic slice-of-life story about a Black Southern American family overcoming the tribulations of life during Jim Crow. Despite a talented cast, a lushly painted background of peach-hued cotton fields and staging by director Tim Rhoze that keeps the pace flowing, the story fails to deliver any sufficient conflict to elicit character development.

As a work of performance art, Fleetwood-Jourdain’s “Gee’s Bend” belongs on a pedestal. Dialogue between protagonist Sadie (Kaitlyn Fields), an educated and empowered young woman, and her sister Nella (Jasmine Robertson), who is less educated yet just as confident, is full of delightful malapropisms and Southern colloquial charm. The family matriarch, Alice (Toccara Castleman), is the “Moe” to their “Larry” and “Curly,” a strong voice of heuristic reason that offers a that-is-that punchline to diffuse an argument. The three women spend much of the play’s runtime sitting in their humble home, knitting elaborate quilts and engaging in witty repartee as the painted cotton fields visible through their window turn from white, to pink, to rose by the changing light of the setting sun—set design also by Rhoze.

But the beauty of the set and the dazzling dialogue become monotonous without conflicts that drive character development. There are certainly events that drive the story, sparked by Sadie’s interest in the then-burgeoning Civil Rights Movement: she disobeys her mother to go downtown to see Dr. Martin Luther King speak; she enrages her husband Macon (Tyrone Norwood), a once-kind man who has become bitter, by drinking from a forbidden water fountain; and she threatens to leave her children when Macon becomes physically abusive.

A man sits on a chair in front of a window frame, looking thoughtful. Behind the window, a woman stands holding a colorful cloth, both illuminated by dramatic blue and purple stage lighting.

Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre’s “Gee’s Bend,” with Kaitlyn Fields and Tyrone Norwood/Photo: Bria Walker-Rhoze 

But these points lead to nowhere, and each character becomes more anemic by the end. One never learns if Macon acts out of selfishness or fear of racists’ retribution, and this main antagonist is swept away without any emotional catharsis. Nella has only a downward story arc, never changing except to become more mentally inept in the play’s final moments. By the end, Sadie, now an old woman, paradoxically acts toward her daughter, Asia (also played by Castleman), as Sadie had been treated by her mother and husband, withholding her blessing when her daughter wants to explore a world outside their farmstead and by denying her daughter sovereignty over her property. The irony of Sadie’s turn to cynicism is left unexplored.

There is much to appreciate in “Gee’s Bend,” like the natural and flowing dialogue, the panoramic scenery, the charm of the setting and the educational elements regarding historic Black American artists, but the incompleteness of the story left one wanting more.

Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre’s “Gee’s Bend” is on stage at Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes Street, Evanston, through June 7. Tickets available here.