Theater Festival presents 'Zora' tonight

When Cathy Simpson was asked how she would describe the woman she portrays in Zora, she answered without hesitation. "Zora Neale Hurston -- the woman who jumped at the sun." Simpson re-enacts Hurston's life and times in Zora, which will play tonight as part of the Women's Theatre Festival. A novelist, anthropologist and black activist, Hurston spent her life struggling to keep her black cultural heritage alive. In a combination of narrative, storytelling and performance, Simpson's one-woman show focuses on the life and work of this famous female artist. Simpson said she feels a strong affinity with the woman she portrays. "She intrigued me because she was an iconoclast, a survivor and an individual," Simpson said. "I relate to her, I identify with her and I like her very much." A four-time winner of the Best Actress Award at the Washington D.C. Play Festival, Simpson said she is thrilled to bring her show to the Women's Theatre Festival. "I'm excited because I'm so close to the script, the woman and her creativity," she said. "I want people to laugh with her, cry with her and evolve with her. I want them to experience Zora Neale Hurston." Produced in connection with Black History Month, Zora was written by Lawrence Holder and is directed by Erica Schwartz. Zora will be performed together with But Only If Things Get Hot Enough, a collaborative project produced and performed by the University's Coalition Theater. Coalition Theater was formed last December in an attempt to unite women of all colors and backgrounds in a multi-cultural and multi-racial theatrical performance. The show is being coordinated by College senior Debra Morton and College graduate Susie Wise. "We recognized there was no integrated space on campus for women of all colors to express themselves artistically," Morton said. "We say 'women of all colors' deliberately," Morton added. "After all, white is a color too." The show is a dramatization of poetry and prose chosen by the members of the group. "We picked pieces that represented us," said College graduate Kanako Shiokawa. "The different ideas and themes of the show are shown in our selection of texts." Group member Cheryl Lynn White said she had thoroughly enjoyed the whole enterprise. "It's been fun," she said. "Having worked so closely with these women for two months, I feel a real bond with them." Zora and But Only If Things Get Hot Enough will play tonight at the Christian Association Auditorium at 3601 Locust Walk. The show begins at 8 p.m., and tickets are available for $5 at the Annenberg Center or for $7 at the door.

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