Lackawanna Blues is an
American play written by
Ruben Santiago-Hudson in 2001. It was later made into a
television movie that aired in 2005. The play dramatizes the character of the author's primary caregiver when he was growing up in
Lackawanna, New York, during the 1950s and 1960s.
Play
The play debuted
off Broadway April 14,
2001, at the
Joseph Papp Theater in
New York City.
[Weber, Bruce. "Thanks, Miss Rachel, Thanks for Raising Me." New York Times. April 17, 2001.]["Santiago-Hudson's Got the Lackawanna Blues at the Public, April 14." Playbill. April 14, 2001.] It was directed by Loretta Greco, produced by
George C. Wolfe, and executive produced by Fran Reiter. Rosemarie Tichler was the artistic producer.
The play is a montage of reminiscences, memories, testimonials and
roman a clefs of "Miss Rachel," or Nanny as the young "Ruben Santiago, Jr." calls her. Largely abandoned by his parents, Nanny becomes Ruben's surrogate family. Various incidents in Ruben's and Nanny's life are portrayed, with a very large cast of quirky minor characters—friends, boarders, family members, visitors, relatives, and so on—providing commentary on Nanny's strength of character, intelligence, and morality.
