'Ethel' actress speaks up

Terry Burrell plays Ethel Waters thru March 11 at the Walnut St Theater

“I first started doing the research about twenty years ago when I was looking for something to develop. I knew I needed to produce something of my very own,” Burrell explained. “My friends encouraged me to work on this piece because they felt Ethel Waters was in danger of being forgotten.”

Burrell’s research uncovered a woman who was the product of rape, rejected by her mother and raised in poverty by her grandmother. She was a woman who learned to use colorful language, rough men and good old American street skills to work her way into a career that led to hit records, Broadway shows, and even an Academy Award nomination — just the second African-American actress ever nominated.

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