There’s an old adage that behind every great man is a great woman. Playwright Donja R. Love thinks that is a truly outdated concept and finds no real reason why women are relegated to supporting roles. This is just one concept that finds its way into his play Fireflies, which just opened at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa. Fireflies will run there through January 26th.

Fireflies looks at a Civil Rights leader (Lester Purry) and his wife (Christina Clark). Beyond being his wife, she is also his speechwriter and activist partner. As the world around them becomes increasingly filled with violence – the church bombing in Alabama that killed four girls figures prominently – the couple finds themselves battling not just the social upheaval around them, but personal demons.

Lou Bellamy directs this production of Love’s play. Fireflies played at the Atlantic Theatre Company in New York in the fall of 2018. This is the second play in Love’s trilogy of plays examining the role of queer love in black history. (The first play was Sugar in Our Wounds and the third play is In the Middle.)

This is the second play on the Julianne Argyros Stage at South Coast Repertory to have a gay theme this season. (The first was Adam Bock‘s The Canadians.) The Orange County I grew up next to has certainly changed and this, in my opinion, is all for the better.

Fireflies runs approximately 90 minutes with no intermission. There is a recommendation on the South Coast Rep website that recommends the play is for high school age audiences and above. It also cautions that there is sexuality, strobe lighting effects, and the smoking of non-toxic electronic cigarettes in the production.

Photo: Lester Purry and Christina Clark in Fireflies. Photo by Jordan Kubat/Courtesy of South Coast Repertory

For tickets go here.

If you enter the code 18262 when purchasing tickets for performances through January 19th, you will receive $5 off the price of each ticket.

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