Pictured: Curtis Bannister plays George and Aneisa J. Hicks plays Esther in Asolo Rep's Intimate Apparel. Photo courtesy of Curtis Bannister plays George and Aneisa J. Hicks plays Esther in Asolo Rep's "Intimate Apparel.

“If I could go back in time I’d choose to go to early 20th century New York City. I’d give anything to spend a day there,” says Peter Rothstein, Producing Artistic Director of Asolo Repertory Theatre.

Such is the setting of Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage, which is now playing at the Asolo Repertory Theatre through April 18. Intimate Apparel tells the story of Esther, a black seamstress living in a boarding house in New York City’s Lower East Side in 1905, who sews intimate apparel for a wide range of female clients. “I think that it is such an interesting time period and it is a location that I’m so fascinated by, the area in many ways birthed American popular song and culture,” says Rothstein. “There’s this intersection of African-American’s who’ve come north during emancipation and immigrants pouring into the Lower East Side–the fusion that grew out of that is so fascinating and has had a profound impact on every facet of American life.”

Although Esther is successful financially, she is lonesome and pines for a love of her own, with the dream of finding a husband and eventually opening a beauty parlor where black women will be treated equally to the white women she sews for. When Esther receives a letter from a Barbadian man working on the Panama Canal, they begin a correspondence that eventually leads to their marriage–despite the fact that her heart lies with the Hasidic shopkeeper from whom she buys her fabric from. “Intimate Apparel is a very intimate story, the world is so rich and at the heart of it is this intersection of this black woman who is a seamstress and a Jewish man who sells fabric. It’s a beautiful play pulled from the black perspective, which is a perspective that we still don’t hear from that often,” says Rothstein.

*Audiences must be 18 or older. February 28 to April 18, 2024, Box office: 941-351-8000 / 800-361-8388, 5555 N Tamiami Trail, Sarasota.

Pictured: Curtis Bannister plays George and Aneisa J. Hicks plays Esther in Asolo Rep's Intimate Apparel. Photo courtesy of Curtis Bannister plays George and Aneisa J. Hicks plays Esther in Asolo Rep's "Intimate Apparel.

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