Boulevard of Bold Dreams reminded me why I love plays that use history to tell stories. Hattie McDaniel, on what should a triumphant and celebratory night, the night she wins an Academy Award for her role in Gone With the Wind, finds herself in a hotel bar deciding whether to skip the ceremony. This lifelong-dream evening has turned into a nightmare of indignities, all because she is black. Like any powerful piece of historical fiction, the play isn’t a lesson or a lecture; it’s a moving story with roots in reality that make it even more powerful.
Boulevard of Bold Dreams reminded me why I love plays that use history to tell stories. Hattie McDaniel, on what should a triumphant and celebratory night, the night she wins an Academy Award for her role in Gone With the Wind, finds herself in a hotel bar deciding whether to skip the ceremony. This lifelong-dream evening has turned into a nightmare of indignities, all because she is black. Like any powerful piece of historical fiction, the play isn’t a lesson or a lecture; it’s a moving story with roots in reality that make it even more powerful.