The small town of Gee's Bend, Alabama was for decades just a blip on the map. That all changed when the art world embraced the vivid, ornate quilts that the town's womenfolk had been crafting for years as a way of documenting their modest yet complicated lives. This week, the Kansas City Rep opens a new play about Gee's Bend that animates the stories sewn into the quilts, and the women who lived them.By Steve Walker
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Kansas City, MO – Playwright Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder grew up in Mobile, Alabama, and went on to college in New York City. It was there where she was turned on to a cultural phenomenon originating just 150 miles from her hometown. Wilder says her introduction to the quilts of Gee's Bend ultimately led to Gee's Bend, the play. Gee's Bend by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder directed by Marion McClinton Copaken Stage Mar 28 - Apr 27, 2008Download recent arts stories or subscribe to the KCUR Arts Podcast