MerSadies McCoy and Hassan Ingraham Photo by Caroline Yang

Black Nativity has been performed (or is the verb "celebrated" more fitting?) at Penumbra's St. Paul playhouse for thirty-two Christmas seasons, beginning in 1987. That is a mighty run, though bested by Boston where the show has been an annual event every holiday season since 1970. A cursory examination online indicates other productions of Black Nativity this season in Seattle, Portland (OR), San Diego, Dallas, Miami, Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Baltimore. No doubt there are many others as well. It was first presented in 1961 when the founders of Cleveland's Karamu House–the United States' oldest producing Black theatre company, founded in 1915–commissioned Hughes to create the work, and it premiered in an Off-Broadway production. It is easy to understand the show's staying power and wide-spread appeal, given that racial inequities and the hunger for inspiration to work toward a better, more just place for all are still very much with us.

Over the years, Penumbra's productions of Black Nativity have been revised in different ways. At one time it was set just after the Emancipation Proclamation, and its narrative was of formerly enslaved people heading north, celebrating their first Christmas as free men and women in a barn in Joplin, Missouri (Langston Hughes' birthplace). A later adaptation placed the story in the context of a family reunion, drawing family members together across their differences. Common to every rendition, though, has been the story of Joseph, Mary, and their infant Jesus, a babe born in possession of great majesty despite the lowly circumstances of his nativity. The other common element has been glorious music, drawing on Christmas carols and gospel hymns, including some based in African American experience.

Penumbra's current production places Black Nativity in a simplified concert format, as it has for the past several years. It is again directed by Lou Bellamy, founder and artistic director emeritus of Penumbra, who has shepherded Black Nativity since it was first mounted at Penumbra. The show is primarily told through songs, delivered with bountiful spirit by a choir of five voices, directed by Angela Stewart, and two immensely talented soloists, Greta Oglesby and Dennis Spears, who inserts, on a couple of occasions, jubilant dance steps into the mix.

Oglesby and Spears are both veterans of the Black Nativity family, as is choir member Deborah M. Finney, who steps out as a soloist–brilliantly–and joins with Oglesby, Spears and Stewart as a quartet on a couple of numbers. Every song is a stand-out, but I was especially moved by Spear's crystalline "I Wonder As I Wander" and by Oglesby's impassioned "Mary Had a Baby." Stewart delivers a soaring solo of "O, Holy Night," with the first verse a low purr reminiscent of the great Cape Verdean singer Cesaria Evora, then switching up to a high-pitched belt, displaying the carol's–and its message's–remarkable breadth.

Penumbra company member Jennifer Whitlock presents the spare narration that serves as a bridge between the musical numbers. When the story focuses on Mary and Joseph, dancers Hassan Ingraham and MerSadies McCoy enter, gracefully enacting the couple's struggles, yearning, and ultimately, joy, as envisioned by Marciano Silvia Dos Santos' passionate choreography. Sanford Moore returns as music director and pianist, along with keyboardist Lee Gatlin, percussionist Steve Jennings, guitarist Geoff LeCrone, and bassist Jay Young III. They produce wonderful music that shifts smoothly from blues to gospel to traditional carols. The other choir members, too, deserve to be named: Shirley Marie Graham, Mckenna McCormick, Angela Henderson, and Christina Brooks. One and all shine.

Though uncredited in the program, the scenic design, suggesting the rustic wood structure of a stable, looks much the same as what I remember from my last visit to Black Nativity three years ago, designed by Lance Brockman. Gregory Horton's costume designs present the dancers, representing Joseph and Mary, in loose-fitting, humble earth tones, while the singers and narrator are resplendent in black evening wear. Kathy Maxwell's lighting design moderates the spectrum between sorrow and jubilation, and Scott Edwards' sound design provides an ideal balance between the voices and the band.

If you share in the message of Christian faith embedded in the birth and life of Jesus, the core around which the whole enterprise Christmas has become, you will undoubtedly relish the passion and artistry devoted to delivering that message in Black Nativity. As I have a different faith background, I may not fully appreciate Black Nativity on that level, yet I can understand its message on a more universal scale, one that puts faith in the human capacity to act out of kindness and compassion, to pursue equity and justice, and to move from darkness toward the light. Moreover, anyone would be hard pressed to find more energized, heartfelt, beautifully sung and played music in the Twin Cities this holiday season.

Black Nativity runs through December 22, 2024, at Penumbra Theatre, 270 North Kent Street, Saint Paul MN. For tickets and information, please visit www.penumbratheatre.org or call 651-224-3180 .

Created by: Langston Hughes; Director: Lou Bellamy; Musical Director: Sanford Moore; Choreographer: Marciano Silva Dos Santos; Sound Designer: Scott Edwards; Lighting Designer: Kathy Maxwell; Associate Lighting Designer: Ellie Simonett; Costume Designer: Gregory Horton: Stage Manager: Megan West; Stage Manager Consultant: Mary Winchell; Assistant Stage Manager: Alexis Wilcox.

Cast: Hassan Ingraham (dancer), MerSadies McCoy (Dancer), Greta Oglesby (soloist), Dennis Spears (soloist), Angela Stewart (choir director/soloist), Jennifer Whitlock (narrator).

Choir: Christina Brooks, Deborah M. Finney, Shirley Marie Graham, Angela Henderson, McKenna McCormick.

Musicians: Lee Gatlin (keyboard), Steve Jennings (percussion), Geoff LeCrone (guitar), Sanford Moore (piano), Jay Young III (bass).