“Angels of the Southern Accents,” a new musical from playwright Rus McCoy, will be shining a new light on the story of journalist and literary icon Margaret Mitchell at OnStage Atlanta May 9-18.
The show is a culmination of 10 years of work on McCoy’s end since he visited the Margaret Mitchell House in 2015.
“I was realizing what a progressive, independent woman she was for the time,” McCoy told Rough Draft. When he learned that Mitchell, best known for her novel “Gone With the Wind,” had helped fund Morehouse College medical students during the 1940s, McCoy realized he had a personal connection to her and knew he needed to write this show.
“My father was at Morehouse at the time,” he said. “She was funding the college, keeping it open, and if she hadn’t done that, maybe the college would have closed. My dad would never have met my mother, who was a Spelman student, and I would never be here.”
“Angels of the Southern Accents” tells the lesser-known story of Mitchell: her two husbands, Berrien “Red” Upshaw and John Marsh, college best friends with secrets of their own; her friendship with her Black maid Bessie Jordan, her closest confidant; her work with Morehouse College and the threat to her reputation it posed at the time. Interwoven with this historically faithful story is music by McCoy inspired by the popular music of the ‘30s and ‘40s, gospel music, and showtunes.
After several years of production, then a pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, “Angels” finally takes to the stage at OnStage Atlanta, directed by Barry West, music directed by Annie Cook, and starring a small cast of five. While the inspiration struck McCoy a decade ago, he believes the current timing of this production is more apt than ever before.
“I think that the reason for it now is even more important than it was when I first wrote it. I think we have political times where everyone’s at odds with each other, and we’ve got these tribes that are so opposed,” he said. “I figure this is a subject matter that can bring both sides together.”
McCoy hopes to attract people on both sides of aisle – conservatives who idolize Mitchell and progressives who have written her off as a product of the Civil War-era South – and bring them together over the impactful life of Atlanta’s favorite literary figure.
Tickets to “Angels of the Southern Accents” start at $15 at onstageatlanta.com. Performances will be held Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. from May 9-18, with an extra performance on Thursday, May 15.
