Extended run for 'Mud Row’ ends abruptly at People’s Light, but here’s some backstory to fill the void

“God did not create any more land,” said Kenneth Winston, which is why Mud Row, Dominique Morisseau’s world-premiere play at People’s Light in Malvern this summer, has particularly resonated with him.

I thought it was entertaining as well as historically accurate, as well as very emotional,” he said. What makes Winston’s perspective so unusual is that he was intimately involved in the creation of the play.

Late last week, People’s Light announced an extended run of the popular and critically acclaimed production. The theater has now followed that exciting news with a sad update: The extension dates have all been canceled, owing to the sudden death of a cast member’s loved one.

People’s Light will contact ticket holders, who can also call the box office at 610-644-3500. The theater isn’t saying more about the circumstances, but a spokesperson said no cast members are local and the incident did not occur in the Philadelphia area.

To write Mud Row, playwright Dominique Morisseau had visited and extensively interviewed Winston and others from West Chester’s traditionally African-American East End neighborhood, also known as Goose Creek, where Winston is executive director of the century-old Charles A. Melton Arts & Education Center.

Part of the play, featuring two sets of African-American sisters over two generations — centers on the role of buildings in history, and that’s a story he knows well.

“If the building goes, there goes the history,” Winston said. “One of the characters wanted to save the history of the house that her grandmother owned. It kind of struck home. One of the reasons is that I’m here [at the Melton Center] is to help save the legacy of this institution.”

West Chester’s East End is gentrifying, Winston said, citing three new high-priced townhouses just blocks away from Melton. “I knew from a young age that African-Americans always live in the least desirable part of town,” he said. “And now, all of a sudden, with gentrification, that land is desirable. And some people sell out.”

Developers recently approached Melton’s board and offered a handsome price to move the center two blocks away. “The board wasn’t willing to do it,” Winston said. “I’m proud of the board’s decision.”

The Melton Center was founded in 1917 by Leslie Pinckney Hill, a PhD who presided over Cheyney State Teachers College, now Cheyney University. Faculty from Cheyney and nearby Lincoln University lived in the East End and understood the importance of education and culture to the community, Winston said.

Morisseau, a Tony Award nominee, also delved into community life for her acclaimed three-play series, The Detroit Projects (starting with Detroit ‘67).

In our shrill, divisive era, the Tony-winning Broadway play, Come From Away, sends a different message — of hospitality and inclusiveness.

Tickets went on sale Friday at the Kimmel Center for the touring production of the musical, visiting Philly this fall, about how a small Canadian town welcomed people from around the world in September 2001.

The terrorist attacks required 38 international flights to be diverted to Gander, Newfoundland. Gander’s residents, outnumbered by incoming passengers and crew members, reached out with kindness to their guests — all different in so many ways, but united by the fears and trauma of that time.

A beautiful story, but… Well, there’s always a but. Show runs Oct. 22 through Nov. 3.

In Washington, a record number of women are serving in Congress – nearly 25 percent in both houses. In Oaks, where Cirque du Soleil now presents Amaluna, the cast is more than 70 percent female – unusual for the Montreal-based company’s productions — and includes an all-female rock-and-roll band.

Directed by Diane Paulus, who won two Tony Awards for her Broadway revivals of Hair (2009) and Pippin (2013), the story, modeled (loosely) after Shakespeare’s The Tempest, is set on an island governed by goddesses. During a storm, a group of men are washed ashore and a luscious tempest of sound, sight, and physicality — all Cirque trademarks — ensues.

The show runs through Aug. 25 under the big top erected in the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center’s parking lot.