By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
Play
Join us on a 70 year journey through the life of Vera Stark, a headstrong African American maid and budding actress, and her complicated relationship with her boss, a white Hollywood starlet desperately grasping to hold onto her career. Events collide and both women land roles in the same Southern epic, and the story behind the cameras leaves Vera with a surprising and controversial legacy. Hilarious and poignant, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark paints an informative picture of the cultural environment that shaped her as a mysterious screen queen and who, in another time and place, she might have been. Drawing upon the screwball films of the 1930's, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark takes a funny and irreverent look at racial stereotypes in Hollywood.
"Gutsy interplay of comic mode and uncomfortable meaning."
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Run Time
Approximate run time for this production is 2 hours and 15 minutes (including the 15 minute intermission.)
Suitability Suggestion
By The Way, Meet Vera Stark deals directly with issues of race and racial stereotypes in society and Hollywood and contains scenes of racially charged subject matter and occasional profanity. This is a refreshingly humorous play that addresses finding one's identity in a society where everybody is pretending to be something they're not, and trying to 'pass.' By The Way, Meet Vera Stark will be best enjoyed by prepared Middle and High School students.
The Parish Theatre
405 W. Lovell St.
Kalamazoo, MI 49007
SEATING
All performances in the Parish Theatre are general seating. We recommend arriving early. Doors open 30 minutes prior to each performance.
FREE PARKING
Available after 6pm in the Civic parking lot at the northeast corner of Lovell and Park Streets. There is additional parking behind the Carver Center. Street parking is available after 5pm.
Photo Gallery
Photos courtesy of Fred Western
