WATCH PARTY: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) George Wolfe @ Mary Pretlow Library

We'll be in the large room, Meeting Room 1, to the right of the entrance. Adapted from the play by August Wilson, the Pulitzer Prize winner playwright behind *Fences*. Starring Viola Davis, Colman Domingo, and Chadwick Boseman in his final role. RUNTIME: 94 minutes RATING: R for language and some sexual content SYNOPSIS: Set in 1927 Chicago, August Wilson's play (and film adaptation) follows legendary blues singer Ma Rainey as she battles white producers for control over her music during a tense recording session. While Ma asserts her power, her ambitious trumpeter, Levee, clashes with the band and seeks his own success, ultimately leading to tragedy due to racial exploitation and internal rage. BLURBS: "Two searing performances-by Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman-make this film more than just a faithful adaptation of a great theater piece and preserves one of August Wilson's enduring works for all time, enacted by a dream cast." - Leonard Maltin "You never forget that you're watching a play on film, but that's okay because the dialogue snaps and leaps -- it's so intense and so exquisite, and yet the emotion beneath it is real." - Christy Lemire, *Film Week* "If the drama is galvanizing enough, that's all you need. And what we have here is more than enough: Viola Davis in one of her greatest performances, and the late Chadwick Boseman in his final and most powerful appearance." - Peter Rainer, *Christian Science-Monitor*