'Pigfoot Mary's Harlem Renaissance'
10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, January 27, 2027 | Polsky Theatre
Tickets start at $5.
Recommended for grades 4 and up.
Inspired by Lillian Harris Dean, one of Harlem’s most successful early entrepreneurs of the 1920s, this lively two-actor play bursts with jazz, bold characters, and the rhythm and dance of the Harlem Renaissance.
Pigfoot Mary, secretly wealthy from her wildly popular food stand, waits anxiously for news of a property sale that could mark her final departure from Harlem. As she prepares to leave, she begins to tell stories—about her life, her hustle, and the unforgettable characters who passed through her doors. Who are Hot Fingers the Piano Player, The Garveyite, Crispus the Numbers Runner, and WWI Veteran General Wilson? What do they share with literary giants like Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Marcus Garvey, and Zora Neale Hurston? At once fun, poignant, and educational, Pigfoot Mary’s Harlem Renaissance connects the fire of that artistic explosion to the questions of identity, ownership, and legacy that still shape us today.
In 2011, the Metropolitan Playhouse in New York City commissioned playwright Daniel Carlton to write a short play about a person or event set during the 1920s for their Harlem Renaissance Festival. Landing on Pigfoot Mary, Carlton was surprised to find out that not much information about her existed. There were exactly two paragraphs written on her by James Weldon Johnson. He expanded the story by using his imagination to connect this information to fictional characters. After its initial run at Metropolitan Playhouse, the show has been presented at The Schomburg Center for Research and Black Culture, Community Works High School Tours, Riverside Church, Blackberry Productions, and a touring show for The Negro Ensemble Company Inc.
Over a decade later, TYA Tour Development Collective commissioned a new production of Carlton’s original script. We are so excited to share with you this new version, evolved with love and care as Pigfoot Mary takes us through the Harlem Renaissance on her last day in the neighborhood.