The Blood Quilt @ Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse

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The Play: The Blood Quilt; four very different sisters gather after their mother’s recent death at their family home on a Georgia sea island to continue the ritual of making quilts to memorialize their family’s history in this drama that attempts to cover too much, from the complicated relationships among the siblings—and with their mother—to such outside issues as gentrification and the legacy of slavery

Written by: Katori Hall         Directed by: Lileana Blain-Cruz

One good thing: The actors are all good but first among equals is Crystal Dickinson who brings not only gravitas to the role of the eldest sister who stayed behind to care for their mother in her final days but a good Geechee accent too; still the true standouts are the dozens of beautiful handmade quilts loaned to the production by the Brooklyn Quilters Guild

One not-so-great thing: Blain-Cruz’s has added directorial gestures that are supposed to be culturally appropriate but come off as theatrical folderol

 

 


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