Zora Neale Hurston led quite a life.
The 20th-century writer was 26 when she shaved 10 years off her age so she could get free public schooling and finish high school.
She went to New York and became friends with the likes of Langston Hughes and Ethel Waters. She graduated from Barnard College, studied Haitian voodoo, won a Guggenheim Fellowship to study West Indian obeah practices, and wrote four novels, as well as short stories, plays and essays.
Hurston was considered the most important African-American woman writer in the first half of the last century.
You can discover more about her through the one-woman show βLetters from Zora,β which Invisible Theatre brings to Tucson on Saturday, April 6, and Sunday, April 7.
Starring in the one-woman play by Gabrielle Denise Pina is actress Vanessa Bell Calloway, who has made her mark on stage and screen. Among her accomplishments: She was an original cast member of βDream Girls,β stars in the television show βSaints & Sinners,β and co-stars in the upcoming film βHarriet.β
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway. Tickets are $45 at 882-9721 or invisibletheatre.com.
