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something, be it vocal technique, breath control or becoming more aware as an actor. For her, The Color Purple even has a touch of ministry to it. “I’ve never done a show where people come up to me afterward crying,” she says, “where battered women come up to me and say ‘thank you.’ You realize your power to touch people is amazing.” The Color Purple plays the Fox Theatre June 15 through 19. Kathy Janich is an Atlanta theater artist and freelance writer. After years in daily newspapers, she’s found a joyous second career as an artistic associate at Atlanta’s Synchronicity Theatre. Visit www.synchrotheatre.com.
Scott Suchman
There seem to have been few limits on Augustine, who made her move from regional to national theater about as quickly as you can say “push ‘da button.” Heeding the advice of Sophisticated Ladies castmates a few years back, Augustine booked a brief working vacation to New York, lining up as many auditions as she could. The gamble worked: In that one week she booked 1½ years of work, including a role in the national tour of The Pajama Game and this gig in The Color Purple. What sets this production of Color Purple apart from Alice Walker’s 1983 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and Stephen Spielberg’s 1985 movie, she indicates, is its “voice.” “The music has the capacity to change everything, to express anything,” Augustine says. For evidence she cites “Hell No!,” Sofia’s declaration of independence from her beloved, misguided husband Harpo. Or Shug’s “Too Beautiful for Words,” sung to Celie, who has felt nothing to that point except her “ugliness.” Or Celie’s triumphant “I’m Here,” an affirmation of survival after four decades of hard labor, beatings, and sexual and emotional abuse. Augustine sees herself as a “work in progress,” a feeling that aligns her more with Celie than Shug. Although she’s worked professionally for a good amount of time and is onstage for eight shows a week, she sees every performance as a chance to improve