Rachel

Sedgwick Theater
7137 Germantown Ave. Philadelphia

Angelina Weld Grimke's American classic depicts an African-American family at the turn of the 20th century striving to find life, liberty, and happiness in a Northern city. Haunted by her family's Southern past, Rachel, an ambitious high-school graduate, struggles to find a vocation, love and hope in the face of systemic racism, ultimately choosing to reject marriage and motherhood. Inspired by the writing of Chekhov, Grimke's Rachel opened in New York on April 25, 1917, and was the first play by an African-American author with an all-black cast to be performed before an integrated audience.