When We Were Colored

“When We Were Colored: A Mother’s Story,” a play by local journalist Ginger Rutland about her upbringing in Sacramento in the 1950s, returns to the stage at the Guild Theater in Oak Park from Feb. 14 through March 14.

If the play sounds familiar, it should.

“When Sacramento Theatre Company produced my play last spring, I was thrilled,” Rutland explains. “While the audience was more diverse than most professional theater audiences in Sacramento, it was still mostly the usual crowd.”

Due to a quick sellout, Rutland realized that patrons who would not normally attend the theater—but who she desperately hoped would see the story—missed out on attending. She decided to restage the play at the Guild, which holds special meaning for her.

“Oak Park is where my family went to church, shopped and socialized when we first moved to Sacramento (in 1952),” Rutland says. The play—based on her mother Eva’s memoir—is about what happened to Rutland’s black, middle-class family as they learned to survive and thrive.

In this production, Rutland’s niece, LA-based actress Chelsea Carbaugh-Rutland, will play the role of Eva. For tickets and more information, visit guildtheater.com. The Guild Theater is at 2828 35th St.