Alabama Story, playwright Kenneth Jones’ six-actor, one-set drama about censorship, book banning, Civil Rights and American characters in “the Deep South of the imagination,” had its world premiere by Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City, Utah in January of 2015.
Since its premiere in 2015, Alabama Story was a nominee for the Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award following and a finalist for the National Playwrights Conference of the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center.
The playwright described the play with the following quote:
It’s a political thriller, a memory play, a workplace drama, a romance, a history, a tearjerker, a comedy, a discussion about race, censorship and political will. Most important, it’s a play about how we behave when we face terrible circumstances — how character is revealed in times of transition, change and crisis.
Though it has been performed all over the country, it wasn’t until 2020 that the play was performed in Montgomery, Alabama where the story actually takes place. The production was able to play as normal until its last week which was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The play is based heavily on true events, with some details changed from the original story. For example, Emily Wheelock Reed is a real person, and she did fight for The Rabbits Wedding among other titles. Garth Williams is also a famous artist, known for his artwork for the books Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web. Some details were changed for the sake of the play, such as the name of the Alabamian senator who fought for book bans.
