Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years

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Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years

Warm, feisty, witty, and wise, the Delany sisters—103-year-old Sadie and 101-year old Bessie—walk us through the last century through the lens of the African-American experience as the Chattanooga Theatre Centre returns to the stage with HAVING OUR SAY: THE DELANY SISTERS’ FIRST 100 YEARS.

HAVING OUR SAY is the CTC’s first production since February, and with it, the theatre is bringing audiences a show that is at once a vital historical record while also an immensely timely work that reflects social issues at the forefront of the national consciousness.

A Tony Award nominee based on the real-life sisters’ bestselling memoir, it’s also a heartfelt portrait of two remarkable women who continued to love, laugh, and embrace life after over a hundred years of living side by side.

Based on a New York Times bestseller adapted for the stage by Emily Mann, HAVING OUR SAY is a two-woman show in which the sisters welcome the audience as a visitor to their comfortable home in Mount Vernon, NY. One is gentle and one is feisty, and like any two people living together for a length of time, they finish one another’s sentences.

They dispense joy and wisdom as they tell us the story of a century of change as they lived it. Their story begins in Reconstruction and progresses through the rise of Jim Crow, two world wars, the triumphs of Black culture during the Harlem Renaissance, the civil and women’s rights movements, up to the present. Their story is not simply African-American history or women’s history; it’s American history.

Under the helm of director Ricardo Morris, HAVING OUR SAY is double-cast and features the talents of Darleene Cole and Kim Reynolds in one cast and E’tienne Easley and Shelia Wofford in the other. The casts will perform on alternating dates. Annie Collins is the stage manager.

The play will be presented in the mainstage theatre with general admission seating, although ushers will seat patrons with at least three vacant seats between parties, and capacity will be limited to no more than 30 percent. To see the CTC’s 22-point safety protocol, visit TheatreCentre.com/SafetyCTC.