American Theatre is excited to partner again with the Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH) to present another series of monologues about great figures from Black cultural history. CTH commissioned each of these pieces, and we’ll be rolling them out for the rest of 2025.

The first offering is God Loves a Sinner Like Me, a short play by Tanya Everett about the legendary blues and jazz singer Alberta Hunter, whose career in clubs, onstage, and in musicals peaked in the 1920s and ’30s. Among the songs she wrote was the classic “Downhearted Blues.” After 20 years of working as a nurse, Hunter resumed her singing career in 1977.

The monologue is performed by Nedra Marie Taylor.