‘Eunice in Paris’ sheds light on the shadows of musical legend Nina Simone

Written by Amina McIntyre and directed by Thandi DeShazor, “Eunice in Paris” stars Parris Sarter as Simone. The show focuses on a time in the 1980s when the jazz singer and renowned pianist had just ended a marriage and faced a lull in her career.

Credit: Courtesy of 7 Stages

Credit: Courtesy of 7 Stages

Sarter, McIntyre and 7 Stages Artistic Director Heidi Howard recently spoke about the show and their fascination with Simone in a Zoom interview with ArtsATL.

“She goes to Paris because Black artists from America found success there,” Sarter said. “She found success in 1968, then she goes back in the 1980s thinking she’ll find that success.

“Instead, it is not what she expects. It’s completely different, a whole different world. She’s not well mentally. She’s not at the status she once was. She’s kind of living like a bag woman at this period in her life. It is a rude awakening she’s having at this particular moment.”

McIntyre liked the fact that this moment is not often explored in histories about Simone.

“For us in the story, it’s the time when James Baldwin tells her that she’s Nina Simone and she doesn’t have to live like this,” McIntyre said. “So she has to make a decision. This particular part of the story is before she becomes the Nina Simone that we know and love but after ‘Mississippi Goddam.’ This is the part where she decides who she’s going to be in the latter part of her life. It’s not necessarily a coming-of-age story.”

Sarter replied, “It’s a breakthrough. It’s a breakthrough story.”

The show originated after playwright Daryl Lisa Fazio watched a documentary about the singer and noticed that Sarter resembled the actress, according to the actress. Fazio approached Sarter about her interest in developing a show, then asked Sarter if she knew of the right writer to tackle the task.

Sarter immediately recommended McIntyre, whom she met a decade ago through Working Title Playwrights, and the two began researching books and documentaries about the singer.

“Reading her autobiography, ‘I Put a Spell on You,’ it really expanded her voice,” Sarter said. “I really paid attention to who she was and who she wanted to be. The world has placed all these labels on Miss Simone, and I don’t think we really knew who she was. She did not want to be a jazz singer or play jazz. She was a classical pianist and that’s what she was training to be. And being a jazz singer and civil rights leader was a byproduct of what she wanted to do. She was very proud of it, being a voice for civil rights. But she wanted to play Bach all day.”

Sarter even visited the singer’s childhood home in North Carolina to get a better sense of who Nina Simone was at her core.

“It puts a perspective on who this woman was — and her family,” she said.

McIntyre spent time in Paris and visited the small club near Notre Dame where Simone had performed. Setting the play during this period allowed for a deeper exploration of Simone’s soul.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

“I think she ends up finding herself in Paris,” McIntyre said of the setting. “She is in an apartment. It’s her, a baby grand piano and a bed. And she is playing at this little club right near Notre Dame, Aux Trois Mailletz. Just across the street from where she’s playing is an alley where all of the jazz greats played, but her being across the street makes a difference. She’s even on the street, trying to give tickets away. She’s having a hard time trying to sell her shows. It’s not working for her.”

McIntyre’s exploration of Simone doesn’t delve into traumatic representations, though. It leans into joy.

“I’m now getting to a place where I’m always writing more healing into plays,” McIntyre said. “There are a lot of plays of color that aren’t healing plays. And as more people of color are getting produced, I’m looking for plays of color that also offer spaces where we find a character loving themselves and healing themselves. That’s a very large part of the end of this play.”

The show originally was developed through Atlanta’s Hush Harbor Lab and a workshopped version was presented in 2022 as part of the Atlanta Black Theatre Festival. Yet revisiting it for 7 Stages has surprised the writer and actor. It is even more relevant now, they said.

“We have found some wonderful gems that we didn’t find a year-and-a-half ago,” Sarter said. “This has aged like fine wine. That’s a testament to Amina’s writing.”

McIntyre said she believes this is only the beginning for “Eunice in Paris.”

“I’m of the mindset that every actor should have a one-person show that they can take on the road with them,” she said. “It always lives in them, and they’re always able to do it if they’re called.”

The work is the first collaboration between McIntyre and Sarter, and it is a showcase of the actor’s tremendous talents. In 2023 alone, Sarter won praise for her work in the plays “Cullud Wattah,” “The Pros and Cons of Killing Your Cult Leader” and “Women in Jeopardy.”

“I knew Parris’ range as an actor, so I wanted her to do all the weird things that she can do,” McIntyre said. “I have been a fan of hers for a long time.”

Howard said 7 Stages is happy to provide a home for the piece because the theater loves working with Sarter. Additionally, the play explores elements of identity and rediscovery, which are relatable to audiences post-pandemic.

“What really struck me is this continual effort to understand our identity,” Howard said. “It takes these people we put on pedestals that we really admire and shows what the reality is — who we can be as humans, in relationships and as artists.”

THEATER PREVIEW

“Eunice in Paris”

5:30 p.m. Jan. 27 and 3 Jan. 28 at 7 Stages Theatre, 1105 Euclid Ave. N.E. 404-523-7647, www.7stages.org/shows

::

Benjamin Carr, a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, is an arts journalist and critic who has contributed to ArtsATL since 2019. His plays have been produced at the Vineyard Theatre in Manhattan as part of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival and at the Center for Puppetry Arts. His novel, Impacted, was published by The Story Plant in 2021.

Credit: ArtsATL

Credit: ArtsATL

MEET OUR PARTNER