Regina Taylor wears many hats — figuratively and now literally.
She's a director, producer and critically-acclaimed actress who not only starred on Broadway as the first African American to play Juliet in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," but in films ("The Negotiator") and on television, where she's had roles in the 1991 drama "All Fly Home," and, more recently, "The Unit," a recently canceled CBS drama.
Today, the Dallas native is finding satisfaction as the playwright of the successful theatrical production "Crowns," now playing at the Pasadena Playhouse through Aug. 16.
The show, which just completed a successful run at the Ebony Repertory Theatre at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center west of Downtown Los Angeles, gives audience members a glimpse into the lives of six Southern women whose life stories are told through the various hats they have worn in their lives.
Winner of four Helen Hayes awards, including "Best Regional Musical," the play is based on a book also called "Crowns."
The L.A. Watts Times caught up with Taylor to talk about "Crowns," her career, and what's next for the multitalented playwright.
LAWT: Tell us about the first time you read "Crowns."
RT: Emily Mann from the McCarter Theatre gave me a call and asked me to look at the book and said, 'See if you'd be interested in turning it into a theater piece.' She sent me over 'Crowns,' and the moment I saw these women's faces from the photographs, I knew them, even though I had not met them. There is this recognition of the women who raised me; the women in my church community, these hat queens I grew up around. I said, 'Yes, I wanted to celebrate them.'
LAWT: Did you immediately see a play?
RT: I saw the women in terms of these stories and passages of their lives. I knew there was something moving and authentic and universal in these stories. All (of) these stories kept up under the brim of a hat during the course of a life — it's about what's passed down.
LAWT: We read where 'Crowns' is one of — if not the most — produced play in the country. Is that true? Is it the most produced among black plays or just plays in general?
RT: I would say it has been one of the most-produced musicals in the country — without a qualifier.
LAWT: How does that make you feel?
RT: I'm humbled, honored and blessed.
LAWT: Do you have any idea how many times the show has been produced?
RT: No, I haven't done the numbers. But I do know it's played in most of the regional theaters in this country. It's a show that people in general come to see again and again and bring their loved ones. I'm happy it had its premiere with the Ebony Repertory Theatre at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center and will now be at the Pasadena Playhouse.
LAWT: Did you wear hats before writing this show?
RT: I wasn't a hat-wearer. I had a knit hat and a baseball cap. But I knew 'hat queens.' Through the course of working on it, what I learned was that the tradition of wearing hats came from across the ocean; Africans adorning themselves for worship, hats derived from slavery. Wearing a hat was a declaration of the individual spirit. It was symbolic of how that person wanted to be seen. A woman wearing a pill hat is presenting one thing. The woman with the big flashy hat with bells and whistles, with sequins and feathers, is presenting something else. This is very individual. This is about individuality — supported by the community. Our culture is very much about our individual uniqueness. It's not homogenous.
LAWT: Did that follow in your own family?
RT: In working on the piece, at some point my mother took me to the closet and showed me her hats. She had never done that before. For a whole afternoon she walked me through her hats and told me the stories for each one. One was for someone's christening, for my first formal outing, this person's wedding, this person's funeral. It gave me an insight into my mother that I didn't have before. She has since passed on. I kept those hats. I have worn some of them. They contain her life.
LAWT: Since the show's success, do you now wear more hats?
RT: Now I have a number of hats. I'm at that midpoint (of) at least beginning to collect hats. My first hat was at the premiere of 'Crowns.' I went out and purchased a real hat.
LAWT: Describe it.
RT: It was a black velvet wide-brim hat with a wonderful swirl of feathers, iridescent feathers. It's also the hat I wore to my mother's funeral.
LAWT: Of course you don't have to be a woman, black, or a churchgoer to enjoy 'Crowns,' but does this show translate for other cultures?
RT: Absolutely. There are so many people who love hats, who know people who love hats. In terms of American society, certainly wearing hats is across the board. The Queen of England is still wearing her hat. It's not a dead tradition.
LAWT: What does writing, producing and directing do for you that acting doesn't?
RT: It all goes together. My purpose is to live a creative life, to create pieces that might move someone, something that has presence, heart, spirit.
LAWT: In the many incarnations of the show, have you ever played one of the roles?
RT: I cannot sing. I cannot dance. Well, I can, but no one would pay me to do it.
LAWT: What's next?
RT: I am working on my next two plays. It's a co-production next year with the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and the Dallas Theater Center. I'm working on part of a trilogy. The plays are called the Trinity River Plays. The first piece is called 'Rain,' about a woman who goes home to her mother's house after a divorce. It's a mother-daughter relationship. It's about a woman who finds herself as she takes care of her mother — who has ovarian cancer. It should go up next August.
LAWT: Since you are a multitalented actress, playwright and director wearing several hats, what other ways do you want to express your creativity?
RT: I think to live life is a creative adventure. It's important to know we can grow up to be what we want to be. It's important for the creativity to have a purpose — a God-given purpose.
"Crowns" stars Paula Kelly, Sharon Catherine Blanks, Vanessa Bell Calloway and others.
"Crowns" will be at the Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena; 8 p.m., Tuesdays through Fridays; 4 and 8 p.m., Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m., Sundays. There will be no performances on July 21 and Aug. 5 at 8 p.m.
There will be one matinee performance on Aug. 5 at 2 p.m. Information: (626) 356-7529, www.pasadenaplayhouse.org.
Darlene Donloe is a writer for the L.A. Watts Times.
Photo from L.A. Watts Times
Leave a comment