MONTGOMERY is a new musical about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old proto-Rosa Parks who was arrested in 1955 for violating segregation law.

This is the Act 1 closer, where Claudette's aunt and adoptive mother Mary Ann sends her away to Birmingham just as the bus boycott, centered around the lighter-skinned Mrs. Rosa Parks, begins.

"Thank God" from the new musical MONTGOMERY

LADY LAWYER LOCKWOOD RIDES HER TRICYCLE is a one-act musical about Belva Lockwood, a 19th- century American presidential candidate. It was commissioned and filmed by Prospect Theater as part of their VISION series in 2020. Watch it here: https://thespie.com/digital/lady-lawyer-lockwood-rides-her-tricycle-youtube/3043

As a young girl, Belva was reluctant to marry because she wished to go to school instead, but schools were neither affordable nor amenable to admitting women. In “Let A Man Take Care Of It All”, young Uriah, Belva’s neighbor, proposes to her.

Let A Man Take Care Of It All

Words, music, voice, piano by Masi Asare. Been thinking a lot recently about how I move through the world as a woman, how I find and use my own power. And how I can do my part to empower those who move through the world after me and beside me as womxn and girls.

She waits

Would You Love Me, Auntie?

"Whippoorwill" lyrics by Zora Neale Hurston, from her 1935 musical play SPUNK, music by Masi Asare. Vocals: Masi Asare, Guitar: Justin Poindexter. Recorded Yellow Sound Lab, September 2022. Audio Engineer: Matthias Winter.

Whippoorwill (from Zora Neale Hurston's SPUNK)

Composer demo track for RISHVOR, a musical play by Masi Asare. Masi Asare on vocals and piano. Recorded May 2020.

I Wait For You

A song from RISHVOR, a musical play by Masi Asare. Vocal by Masi Asare with Peter Yarin on piano, Justin Poindexter on guitar, Jen Hodge on Bass. Recorded live at 54 Below, June 15, 2023.

The Music You Make (from RISHVOR)

MONTGOMERY THE MUSICAL pulls you back to 1955 as 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refuses to give up her bus seat and is arrested, almost inspiring a city-wide boycott – until civil rights leaders find a better poster girl in the lighter-skinned Rosa Parks.

With Claudette’s testimony in a landmark civil rights case, segregation on city buses is ruled unconstitutional. However, neither Claudette Colvin nor Mrs. Rosa Parks are able to make a living in Montgomery after their respective protests. As the show ends, they elect to leave the city and seek their fortunes elsewhere.

Let A Man Take Care Of It All

Britt Bonney

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