About the Play:

Having Our Say is a full-length drama adapted for the stage by Emily Mann from the best-selling book of the same name by Sarah (Sadie) Delany and Elizabeth (Bessie) Delany. African-American sisters Sadie and Bessie Delaney, both over 100 years old, tell their stories, including growing up as the daughters of a former slave turned respected professor, maintaining professional careers and integrating a New York suburb, in this adaptation of the real-life sisters' book of the same name.

Having Our Say is the true story of Bessie and Sadie Delaney, two African-American sisters whose lives span over a century. The play opens as 103-year-old Sadie Delany and 101-year-old Bessie Delany welcome us into their Mount Vernon, New York, home. As they prepare a celebratory dinner in remembrance of their father's birthday, they take us on a remarkable journey through the last hundred years of American history, recounting a fascinating series of events and anecdotes drawn from their rich family history and careers as pioneering African-American professionals. Their story is not simply African-American history or women's history. It is American history, told through the eyes of two unforgettable women as they look not only into the past, but also ahead into the twenty-first century.

Having Our Say premiered in 1995 at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, transferred to the Booth Theatre on Broadway in New York City, where it ran for nine months and garnered a Tony Award nomination for Best Play. Since then the play had regional premieres at professional theatres across the US and has been mounted by college and community theatres.

Cast: 2 female

What people say:

"The daughters of a minister born in slavery and a brilliant woman of mixed ancestry, the story of the Delany sisters begins in Reconstruction and progresses through the rise of Jim Crow, two world wars, the triumphs of black culture during the Harlem Renaissance, the civil and women's rights movements, up to the present…Mann has staged the three relatively brief acts with a keen eye for the jigsaw fit that a hundred years of living together would bring." — Variety

"The most provocative and entertaining family play to reach Broadway in a long time…." — The New York Times

"…when the show is over, you want it to go on and on …Having Our Say is a must for audiences of all races." — BackStage

"In fact, this must be the nicest show and inspirational pep rally in town…what a life these women have led, and how lovely to hear about America's real history from witnesses who are such good company. The Delany sisters may seem too good to be true, but here they are." — New York Newsday

"Do see Having Our Say — it is a window on a world now lost, full of love, a little pain and a wondrous deal of hope." — New York Post

About the Playwright:

Emily Mann is is an American playwright and director, who is also artistic director and playwright-in-residence at the McCarter Theatre in in Princeton, New Jersey. Her award-winning plays have been produced throughout the world. Her numerous awards for artistic excellence include a Guggenheim, a Playwrights Fellowship and Artistic Associate Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and a Rosamund Gilder Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Theatre. In recognition of her achievements illuminating the possibilities for social, cultural and political change, she was awarded the Lee Reynolds Award.