THE PLAY

A theatrical tribute to a woman whose legacy deserves to stand among the great architects of American history.

What happens when a woman history tried to silence refuses to disappear?

A forgotten book. A struggling preacher. A voice from the past yearning to be heard.

Set against the backdrop of the Harlem Renaissance and the Great Depression, LIZZY begins when Reverend James Stansil discovers a long-forgotten copy of "Behind the Scenes, Thirty Years a Slave, or Four Years in the White House," the 1868 memoir of Elizabeth Keckley.

What begins as a search through the pages of a suppressed history soon becomes something far more extraordinary. As Stansil confronts the remarkable life of a woman who purchased her freedom, built a thriving couture business, became the trusted dressmaker and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln, and devoted herself to helping thousands of newly freed people, the past begins to speak directly to the present.

Through powerful dramatic monologues, historical encounters, and the commanding presence of Elizabeth Keckley and Reverend Stansil, LIZZY brings to life a woman whose artistry, intellect, enterprise, and contributions to American history have been too long overlooked.

But LIZZY reaches far beyond the telling of one woman's extraordinary life. It summons the magnitude of what Elizabeth Keckley accomplished against seemingly impossible odds: the freedom she claimed, the empire she built, the lives she transformed, the grief she carried, and the legacy she entrusted to generations yet to come. Hers is a story not merely of survival, but of brilliance, authorship, and the audacity to shape one's own place in history.

Soon to debut in 2027 at the Willie Agee Playhouse in Inglewood, California, this remarkable story takes the stage under the direction of Shelli Boone, veteran actor, producer, and director, bringing her artistic vision and theatrical sensibility to a story whose time has come to be heard.

LIZZY is an awakening. A tribute to the genius, artistry, enterprise, and extraordinary contributions of Black Americans whose hands helped shape this nation. It is an offering of gratitude to those who came before us, those who carried the work forward, and those who continue to make history today.

This is more than a return to the past. It is an invitation to reckon with what was taken, recognize what was built, and reclaim what must never again be forgotten.

Because a legacy is not measured by whether history remembers you. It is measured by what remains because you lived.

Elizabeth Keckley's story belongs to history. Her legacy belongs to all of us.