Bella: An American Tall Tale’ Puts Bootylicious Black Women Front and Center

One of the most buzzed-about shows kicking off the summer theater season in New York is Bella: An American Tall Tale written and composed by Obie Award-winning actress-turned- playwright/lyricist/composer Kirsten Childs.

Comically inspired by the real life legend of historical figure Hottentot Venus — believed, by some, to be the first Black female sex symbol — the Robert O’Hara-helmed musical romp chronicles the life and times of a scandal-ridden southern gal, who’s the owner of a vivid imagination and a bountiful derriere (with its own mind), on a journey to meet her Buffalo Soldier fiancé while secretly on the run from the law during the 1870s.

Yes you read that correct! The main character’s booty has a mind of its own; and its’ very own raucous musical number too — performed with much sassy aplomb by NaTasha Yvette Williams to be exact.

Starting her career as one of the first Black dancers with the Martha Graham Dance Company, Childs performed on Broadway and is currently a professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. A versatile scribe, she’s an esteemed member of a new generation of thriving Black female playwrights — such as Dominique Morisseau, Lydia Diamond, Sharon Washington and Katori Hall — offering unique perspectives on the Black female experience in America.

A former protégée of ‘For Colored Girls’ creator Ntzoke Shange, she previously scripted the…

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