CBS-TV will broadcast "Having Our Say, The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years" — a screen adaptation of the Tony-nominated play, Having Our Say — on Sunday, July 28 at 9 PM.
Diahann Carroll and Ruby Dee co-star in the TV movie, which boasts a screenplay by Emily Mann, artistic director of the McCarter Theatre. Mann also wrote the critically acclaimed play, which debuted at Princeton's McCarter Theatre before heading to Broadway. Mann received a Peabody Award for her screenplay and Tony nominations for Best Director and Best Play for the show's Broadway production.
Based on the best-selling book "Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years," the play/TV film tells the true story of two African-American women born to former slaves in the 1800's, who live through the Northward migration of Southern blacks, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, two World Wars, a Depression and the Civil Rights movement. Others in the TV cast include three-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald as well as Terry Nienhuis, Cameron Arnett, Bobby Tyson, Lizan Mitchell, Kiara Harris, Haleigh Porter, Clifton Powell, Bumper Robinson, Micki Grant, Della Reese, Mykelti Williamson, Lonette McKee, Lisa Arrindell Anderson, Richard Roundtree and Amy Madigan.
Having Our Say opened at Broadway's Booth Theatre on April 6, 1995, where it played 317 performances. Mary Alice and Gloria Foster headed the cast as, respectively, Bessie and Sadie Delaney. Camille O. Cosby and Judith Rutherford James, who produced the stage production, have also produced the television movie.
—By Andrew Gans and Robert Viagas
