UPCOMING DISCUSSIONS
"This program is inspiring, both to students and to the rest of us. It's a great way to help them see how important and relevant (and vibrant) arts in their community are to the rest of their lives and to their own experiences."
Irene Faass -
Professor at MCTC
September 3 - 27, 2026
By Christina Ham. In this powerful play inspired by Nina Simone’s song “Four Women,” Simone and three other women find themselves in the rubble-filled 16th Street Baptist Church on the day of the 1963 bombing, in which four young girls were killed. As riots erupt outside, the women must come to terms with the tragedy and with each other if they are to move forward. During this time, women, who played a critical organizing role in the Civil Rights era, were not allowed to march with men or speak at the ceremony except to sing for the crowd. Featuring Simone’s most popular anthems (including one of the most groundbreaking and fiercely uncompromising protest songs in American history - "Mississippi Goddamn") that highlight how music was a powerful form of resistance for women during the Civil Rights Movement, Nina Simone: Four Women is a timely and electrifying testament to the radical and healing power of art.
*This production reunites the play’s original cast — Regina Marie Williams (On Stage Educator), Aimee K. Bryant (On Stage Educator), Thomasina Petrus (On Stage Educator), and Traci M. Shannon — and welcomes back former Pillsbury House + Theatre Artistic Director, Faye M. Price, to lead this powerful homecoming.
NOTE: Discussions for NINA SIMONE: FOUR WOMEN will take place between September 14 - 23, 2026.
JuCoby Johnson and Stuart Gates at Normandale Community College facilitating an On Stage discussion about Actually
Miriam Schwartz, Lucas Erickson and Michelle O'Neill at Normandale Community College after facilitating an On Stage discussion about Actually
