Taprena Augustine stars as Shug Avery in The Color Purple.
The Color Purple’s
liberated lady Taprena Augustine (Shug Avery) returns to Atlanta By Kathy Janich
Continued on page 56
12 EncoreAtlantA.com
Scott Suchman
G
racious, Miss Celie’s work boots have covered a lot of ground since her story was first set to music at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre in 2004. The Color Purple followed its world premiere there with a 15-month Broadway run and a first national tour that lasted nearly three years. This edition, the second national tour, first kicked up dirt in Baltimore in March 2010. Its cast of 25 and accompanying crew get a respite when its windows are shuttered June 26 in Nashville (although 2012 bookings are promised). All told, some 1,400 audiences, give or take, have seen Miss Celie’s journey from down-andout 14-year-old to gray-haired entrepreneur. The show’s Atlanta homecoming is a bit of a trifecta: There’s its birth at the Alliance; the fact that it’s set in Georgia (from 1909 to 1949); and finally, there’s Taprena Augustine, who plays Shug Avery.