The Harlem Renaissance was a pent up explosion of brilliant prose, poetry, politics and music of African-Americans ready to say their piece. The words and thoughts of Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, George Schuyler, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, WE Dubois,  Gwendolyn Bennett, Father Divine,  Georgia Douglas Johnson, and many others are woven into a panoramic theatrical narrative that scans an extraordinary outpouring of artistic endeavor lasting a decade till the Great Depression brought all to an end.  Jean Toomer’s seminal work Cane, the incomparable short novel that started the sparks flying, is given its full due in this musical theater work.

With a superb original score by New England Jazz Master bassist/composer Avery Sharpe, the music and words become one.  The theatrical narrative, conceived and written  by Harry Clark, is a tour-de-force for an African-American actress to embody the thoughts and emotions of such a powerful and diverse set of thinkers, artists, religious leaders and politicians.  Raisin’ Cane has found just such an actress and entertainer in Jasmine Guy
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