"HAVING OUR SAY: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years," through Feb. 6, The Grand Theatre, 1575 S. State (801-957-3322); running time: 2 hours (two intermissions)
"I am 101 years old. At my age, I can say whatever I want."
What Bessie Delany (Rita Martin) has to say is a unique, insightful, at times funny and other times disheartening perspective of more than a century of life through the eyes of a black woman who, along with her sister, easily could have faltered in the face of racism and poverty.
Instead, they used strong wills and education to each achieve successful careers.
In celebration of Black History Month, the Grand Theatre is hosting the regional premiere of "Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years," based on the book of the same name.
The true story recounts the lives of two extraordinary sisters, who never married, as narrated by the women themselves.
The play finds Bessie and her older sister, Sadie (Toni Byrd), preparing dinner at their home in Mount Vernon, N.Y., sometime in the early 1990s. The audience acts almost like dinner guests as the sisters tell their stories while putting pineapples on the ham, peeling oranges and mixing baking ingredients.
Despite family roots that ran deep into slavery in the Civil War-era South, Bessie became the second black female dentist in New York while Sadie was the first black person to teach science in public high school in New York.
Each achieved success in different ways. Sadie in a more passive aggressive manner while Bessie was the more fiery, outspoken of the two. As the sisters describe themselves, Sadie was sugar to Bessie's spice, or the molasses to her vinegar.
"I would rather die than back down," Bessie says.
While slavery ended in 1865 and Sadie and Bessie's father was freed, the challenges for the Delany family, and black people in general, were far from over.
From "rebby" boys to the Jim Crow era and Segregation, to lynchings and later figures such as David Duke, the Delany sisters witnessed firsthand how some chose to treat a person based only on their skin color.
The sisters were fortunate, however, because they were given a good education. And despite where their ancestry may have started, they never felt the need to call themselves "African Americans."
"We were just Americans," Bessie says.
"We loved our country, but it didn't always love us back," she says.
Clocking in at just over two hours, the play is strictly dialogue, meaning its success relies squarely on the storytelling abilities of the two lead roles. If the audience doesn't feel connected to the discussion, it could make for a long night of theater.
Fortunately, the Grand has a gem in veteran actress Byrd and made a good find in Martin, who makes her Grand debut. Both are warm and engaging in their storytelling, and their ability to play off each other was smooth. Martin does an excellent job as the fired-up Bessie when venting her anger.
With both women having lived more than a century, they have a lot to say. Not only the bad, but the good, as they were in the middle of the Harlem Renaissance and got to meet influential black performers such as Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington, as well as Martin Luther King.
The play's strength is the retrospective on American history and culture. Though important to the story, following the sisters' large family tree wasn't always easy and sometimes slowed the flow of the play.
"Having Our Say" reminds us that prejudice feelings and racism have been, and still are, a problem in American society. But through education and determination, many black people have achieved great success. And many of our country's greatest contributions have come from blacks.
The Delany sisters believed blacks could achieve almost anything, although Bessie was skeptical there would ever be a black president.
What Bessie and Sadie didn't live quite long enough to see was thanks to their efforts and many like them.
Sensitivity rating: Some racial slurs and detailed discussions of lynchings.
e-mail: preavy@desnews.com