University research shows the troupe is having an overwhelmingly positive effect. The applicant pool for Fall 2001 quarter showed a 36 percent increase in African American students as well as other students of color. Set in 1930, the play begins at the twilight of the Harlem Renaissance and the dawn of the Great Depression. Harlem in the 1920s was a time of great artistic and social bounty for blacks, producing legends like Langston Hughes, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Josephine Baker. By the time the '30s rolled around, the lights of Harlem were fading.
Blues follows the lives of five ordinary characters who dream of making it big in life.
The diverse spirituality of African American culture is reflected in many of the troupe's past productions, including the famed Fences by August Wilson and Tambourines to Glory , a musical by Langston Hughes. For Patricia Russell, who performs the role of Angel in the play, the troupe has boosted her self-confidence by allowing her to perform in front of large audiences. Actor Tobias Wilson brings up a scene in Blues for an Alabama Sky in which collard greens are mentioned. He says such familiar imagery provides an authentic black experience, reconnecting him to his own family and grandparents.