Inspired by the life of Nina Simone and featuring many of her most iconic songs, “Black is the Color of My Voice” comes to MAST Mayflower Studios on Friday, September 27 and Saturday, September 28, 2024.
Apphia Campbell’s acclaimed play is about a successful jazz singer and civil rights activist seeking redemption after the untimely death of her father. She reflects on the path that took her from a young piano genius destined for a life of service to the church to a famous jazz singer at the forefront of the civil rights movement.
The show has been performed to standing ovations nationally and internationally, from Shanghai and New York to Edinburgh and London’s West End. It recently toured Australia and won the Best Theatre Award at the 2024 Adelaide Fringe.
Apphia is originally from the USA and holds a BFA in theatre performance from Florida International University. She wrote Black Is The Color Of My Voice in 2013. In 2017, her new show with Meredith Yarbrough, Woke, premiered as part of the
Made In Scotland Showcase, where it won a Scotsman Fringe First and a special award from Amnesty International and was shortlisted for the Filipa Bragança Award and the Scottish Art Club Theatre Award.
In 2019 she made her West End debut with Black Is The Colour Of My Voice at Trafalgar Studios and had a London premiere of Woke at Battersea Arts Centre. Her first BBC commission for a children’s story called Zachary The Zebroid was broadcast in
2020 and she also wrote Birdie’s Dilemma for Scenes for Survival (BBC in association with NTS Scotland). She was one of six writers to write for the National Theatre of Scotland’s Christmas show Rapunzel.
Current credits: The Last Bordello (David Leddy, director), Woke (Caitlin Skinner, director), Black Is The Color Of My Voice (Arran Hawkins, director), The Color Purple (James Harkness, director), Soul Sessions (Cabaret) , No Exit (Michael Beets, director).
Tickets for “Black is the Color of my Voice” (27-28 September 2024) are available at mayflower.org.uk or 02380 711811.
- In Common is not for profit. We rely on donations from readers to keep the site running. Could you support us with as little as 25p a week? Please help us continue to provide independent grassroots media. Visit: https://www.patreon.com/incommonsoton
