play like this at that venue. Everybody took a chance doing something this heavy in such a small place—I know they took a chance on me.”
“I think that Celebration took a big chance in doing a by randy hope
t’s springtime and one would have to have been living under a rock for the past few decades to be unaware of the moving beauty found in The Color Purple. The award-winning novel written by Alice Walker is the seed that— thanks to Oprah Winfrey’s nurturing—sprouted into an award-winning film
and blossoming Broadway production. This season, however, Director Michael Matthews takes the soul-stirring musical tale of the human spirit on yet another journey, proving the production’s lustrous tale thrives no matter the size of the garden in which it grows. The Color Purple is bright as ever—the brilliant story of life and love flourishes in full bloom—as it’s transplanted on the stage of Cel- ebration Theatre through Saturday, May 26.
CESILI WILLIAMS ON PLAYING CELIE Anyone familiar with The Color Purple would agree you have big shoes to fill in the lead role as Celie. How’ve you made the role your own? Well, I hadn’t seen the Broadway production; I had only seen the movie. Once I
BLOSSOMS ON STAGE AT CELEBRATION THEATRE
PURPLE BRIGHTLY
16 RAGE RAGE monthly | APRIL 2012 monthly | APRIL 2012 THE COLOR
was cast I didn’t want to see it while I was in the process of developing the charac- ter because I didn’t want to be influenced by what was already created—I wanted to make sure it was organic. Having watched the movie and growing up watching it, it’s an honor to be playing this type of role and it gives me a whole new respect for Whoopi Goldberg and the “heaviness” you have to take on in developing a character like this. It means a lot to be able to show a woman who is going through such a change from childhood to about the age of 50—we get see her develop. It’s an honor for any actor to have something of that kind of range—it’s a great honor and a great challenge. Do you feel the role itself is an instinctual journey? I’ve always thought of acting as being therapeutic, so in terms of myself in rela-
tion to the character. I’ve definitely had some highs and lows in my life, which I needed to get through—through this character I feel I’m able to get past some of those things. I definitely feel that this is a woman who is seen at her lowest low and I don’t feel that she is seen at her highest high by the end. I feel it is a lifelong thing that will happen for her having had so much at home being beaten down to the absolute bottom. I feel it would be nice to see her at 80—we only see her up to 50. I think she would grow that much more and it would be interesting to see what kinds of relationships she would have as she gets older. What do you see as the most significant scene on stage for Celie, and why? For me, it would be the song, “I’m Here,” because that is the moment which she
is closest to being her strongest. Some might even think she is at her strongest when she tells “Mister” off in the Easter scene—I think in that scene she is still be- ing led—she’s still being led by Shug. Someone is always saving her—Nettie is
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