A choreography-based staged retelling of the girl who taught her voice to dance instead
One of the world’s greatest singers originally set out to be a dancer. In a split second decision while headed to the iconic stage of the Apollo Theatre, Ella Fitzgerald decided she should sing instead. This singular impulse has taken shape in the use of choreographic exposition paired with newly composed music as a direct storytelling device. Deemed “The Cinderella of Harlem,” this story follows Fitzgerald’s unshared inner journey from a destitute, homeless girl into a globally desired performer. The play also provides a window into the experience of an African American woman born in 1917 who spent her formative years in the vibrant cultural hotbed of the Harlem Renaissance and whose concerts were used to forge some of the first desegregated audiences in the US.
Trina Bass Coleman – Playwright, Composer CV
Christine Yangco Helland – Co-playwright, Director CV
Hanna Filomen Måvatn – Developing Embodied Movement (Choreographer) CV
Dramatikkens Hus funded workshops for script and choreographic development – Fall/Winter 2025
Cast (in development):
Trina Bass Coleman 