Book and Lyrics by Tony Kushner / Score by Jeanine Tesori

Caroline, or Change ran from April 20-May 11 at the Wimberly Theatre in the Calderwood pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. Directed by Allison Choat and Music Directed by Dan Rodriguez, featuring: Lyndsay Allyn Cox*, Kevin Groppe, Aliyah Harris, Ben Choi-Harris, Maria Hendricks, Lovely Hoffman, Mark Johnson, Sarah Kornfeld, Razan Mohamed, Davron Monroe, Yewande Odetoyinbo*, Robert Orzalli, Ellen Peterson, Lamia Porter, Phil Thompson**, Kira Troilo

It’s 1963 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Caroline Thibodeaux, maid to the Jewish Gellman family, has been cleaning houses for twenty-two years. While she may not like it, Caroline feels as if she knows her place: she’s an African- American, a single mother, a good Christian and a hardworking housekeeper. But when eight-year-old Noah Gellman’s mother dies, his grief blurs all the familiar lines. Shunning his distant father, Stuart, and bewildered stepmother, Rose, Noah clings to Caroline despite barriers of race, culture and religion. He rushes to her each day after school, forgetting everything else – including the change in his pants pockets, which Caroline rescues from the laundry again and again. When Rose finds out how careless Noah is with money, she tells Caroline to keep any coins she finds. Caroline wants to refuse, but on her meager salary, every penny helps – and as the days pass, Noah begins leaving money on purpose, hoping to become a bigger part of Caroline’s life. Meanwhile, just outside the small world of Caroline’s work, the rising tide of the civil rights movement is poised to alter everything she takes for granted. Caroline is torn between her home and her work, her faith and her instincts, her future and her past. What can she do if the only way to remain true to herself is to change?

ELLIOT NORTON NOMINATION:

Outstanding Musical Production
Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actress – Yewande Odetoyinbo
Outstanding Musical Direction – Dan Rodriguez