‘Pretty Fire' one-woman show captivates audiences and critics

Montgomery - For its second theatrical presentation, The Grand Montgomery Chamber Music and Theatre Series presents Big Sky Productions in a performance of the critically acclaimed play, Pretty Fire, on Saturday, Oct. 13, at 8 p.m. Pretty Fire is an entertaining and captivating one-woman show written by Charlayne Woodard. In five vignettes, she traces her life from premature birth to eleven years old. With lyrical, lifting words, Woodard weaves stories of two young sisters in Albany, of Ku Klux Klan riders burning a cross (the “pretty fire” of the title) in the hilltop town of Rosignol Hill, Ga. and of three generations of family love, struggle and triumph. The stage is filled with the authentic experience of contemporary African-American life. Pretty Fire stars DeLois “Cookie” House as Charlayne Woodard. House has been in several shows for Big Sky Productions including Jake’s Women, An American Daughter, Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters’ First Hundred Years and The Exonerated. In Pretty Fire, Ms. House plays 25 characters, including the author, her parents, both sets of grandparents, her sister, the town bully, a neighbor, the choir mistress, the minister and many other personalities. The New York Times said Pretty Fire is “Exhilarating and unflaggingly entertaining. . .One of the most positive pictures of the black-American experience I’ve ever seen on stage…” Newsday called it “Inspiring, illuminating and engrossing,” and the L.A. Times called it “A remarkable feat of writing and performing — a rare autobiographical tour de force so lustrous it seems to reinvent the whole solo-acting genre.” And the D & H Canvas said, “Pretty Fire has affected me very strongly. It pops into my mind often each day since I saw it.” Carol Montana, Big Sky Productions’ artistic director, directs Pretty Fire. Montana has directed over 30 plays including On Golden Pond, Chapter Two, Jake’s Women, Driving Miss Daisy, Having Our Say, Arsenic and Old Lace, Hate Mail, The Sunshine Boys, Last Will and Testament and The Exonerated. Pretty Fire was previously performed as part of the Black History Month celebration at Sullivan County Community College and at the Bloomingburgh Restoration Foundation as part of its storytelling series. This performance will be held at the new Montgomery Senior Center, 36 Bridge Street in Montgomery, NY at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 13. Admission for is free. For information and reservations, call 845-457-9867. Pretty Fire is produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service.