Community members are invited to a reception at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St. at 6 p.m. on July 12 to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Evanston’s Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre.
The first performance of the play “Gee’s Bend” will be held after the reception. Guests are encouraged to dress in creative cocktail attire.
“Gee’s Bend” is Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder’s story of the Pettway women, quilters from the isolated community of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. The play opens in 1939, and follows Alice, her daughters Sadie and Nella, and Sadie’s husband, Macon, through segregation, family strife and the Civil Rights movement. The women’s extraordinary quilts provide a respite from the turmoil around them.
Tickets for the July 12 gala, at $50, are available at at 847-448-8260 or in person weekdays 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Morton Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave. “Gee’s Bend” will run until July 27. More information is available at www.fjtheatre.com.