American Stage transforms a 20-year Shakespeare in the Park tradition with the opening of Regina Taylor's Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats at Demens Landing. A far cry from "Where fore art thou Romeo," Crowns is the musical adventure of a girl from Brooklyn sent to live with her grandmother in South Carolina. Via gospel music and funny, poignant stories about love, men and the human spirit, the girl's grandmother and her band of lady friends — who believe that with the right 'hattitude' any hat can be a crown and its wearer a queen — help Yolanda find inner strength and her own unique voice. April 5-May 7, 8 p.m. weekly (call for days), First Ave. S.E., St. Petersburg, $12.50 preview (April 5-6)/$25 reserved chair seating/$20 premium blanket seating/$10-$13 general admission, 727-823-7529, www.americanstage.org.
This article appears in Mar 29 – Apr 4, 2006.