Cora Unashamed
is taken from Langston Hughes' controversial collection of stories The Ways of White Folk, which demonstrates another of the talents of the so-called "Poet Laureate of the Harlem Renaissance."
In addition to being a powerful poet and sort story writer, Huges was a playwright, novelist, essayist and memoirist who never stopped focusing his energies on the situation of African-Americans in America,
at a time when none of the century's later advances in civil and human rights had taken place.
THE STORY
This adaptation of Hughes' powerful tale, set in the 1920s and 30s,
tells the story of Cora Jenkins (Regina Taylor), the daughter of the only African-American family in the small Iowa town of Melton. Cora supports her mother and her daughter, Josephine, by working as a
domestic in the home of the socially driven Mrs. Studevant (Cherry Jones), where she serves almost as a surrogate mother to the Studevants' daughter, Jessie. Cora's own daughter dies, and Cora's
relationship with Jessie grows even deeper. When a terrible mistake by Mrs. Studevant causes Jessie's death, Mrs. Studevant lies about the cause to preserve her social standing, Cora must risk her
livelihood, her security, and her place in the world in order to speak the truth and honor the memory of the two children she loved and lost.
THE CAST
Regina Taylor (Cora Jenkins): A multiple award-winner whose work in theatrical films, on television, on Broadway and in smaller theaters demonstrates a remarkable range, Regina Taylor is probably
best-known to television viewers as a star of the critically acclaimed series "I'll Fly Away," for which she won a Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Dramatic Series. She has also been a regular on
several other series, including "Law and Order," and starred in a number of television motion pictures and miniseries, such as "Children of the Dust," "Strange Justice," and "The Howard Beach
Story." On Broadway she has played Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet," Celia in "As You Like It," and one of the three witches in "Macbeth." Ms. Taylor's motion pictures include starring with
Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey in "The Negotiator," plus Edward Zwick's "Courage Under Fire" and Spike Lee's "Clockers," as well as "Losing Isaiah," "Lean on Me," and "Sea of Love."
Cherry Jones (Elizabeth Studevant):
One of Broadway's most acclaimed actresses, Cherry Jones won a Tony Award for "The Heiress" and nominations for "Our Country's Good" and her extraordinary achievement in this season's production of Eugene O'Neill's "A Moon for the Misbegotten." She also earned praise for her performance as Federal Theater Project director Hallie Flanagan in "Cradle Will Rock" and has important roles in both "Erin Brockovich" and "A Perfect Storm." Her television credits include roles in "Tribeca" and "Spenser for Hire" and the part of Helena in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," co-produced for PBS by WGBH. Her work off-Broadway has earned her a Drama Desk Award and a Critics Outer Circle Award, both for "Pride's Crossing" at Lincoln Center.
CCH Pounder (Ma Jenkins)
is an actor who never stops working. Twice Emmy nominated (for her recurring roles on "ER" and "The X-Files"), Ms. Pounder has also done multiple segments of such series as "Millennium," "Sweet Justice," and "Hill Street Blues." Her television motion pictures and mini-series include "Go Tell it on the Mountain," Hallmark's "The Resting Place," "If these Walls Could Talk," "Return to Lonesome Dove," and "Murder in Mississippi." She has appeared in more than a dozen films, ranging from Arnold Scwarzenegger's "End of Days" and John Woo's "Face/Off" to Mike Nichols' "Postcards from the Edge," John Huston's "Prizzi's Honor," and the independent hit "Bagdhad Cafe," directed by Percy Adlon.
Ellen Muth (Jessie Studevant at 19)
won the Best Actress award at the AFI Independent International Film Festival in 1999 for her starring role in "Young Girl and the Monsoon." She was eighteen years old at the time. Ms. Muth made her feature film debut at fourteen opposite Kathy Bates in Taylor Hackford's "Dolores Claiborne." On television she has been seen in guest-starring roles on "Law & Order" and "Law & Order/Special Victim's Unit." She is a star of the projected Fox television series "Don't Ask," starring John Goodman and Anthony Lapaglia.
BEHIND THE CAMERAS
Deborah M. Pratt (Director)
first came to California as a performer with numerous LA companies of Broadway shows. Turning to writing, she penned twenty-two episodes for the hit NBC series "Quantum Leap" and produced all ninety-seven. She made her directorial debut with the prize-winning short film "Girlfriends," which she also wrote and produced. "Cora" marks Ms. Pratt's full-length directorial debut. She next plans to direct the live action version of the film musical "Shadowdance," for which she has also written the script and composed the music. As a television writer, she is five-time Emmy nominee, a Golden Globe nominee, and winner of the Lillian Gish Award from Women in Film.
Anne Peacock (Screenwriter)
is a South African-born writer who trained as an attorney and taught Law at the University of Cape Town before emigrating to the United States in 1986. She has translated her interest in social justice and civil rights into writing screenplays which are reflective of these themes, such as Columbia Pictures' "Goodbye Bafana" (about Nelson Mandela) and HBO's "A Lesson Before Dying" (an adaptation of the best-selling novel by Ernest Gaines) prior to her "Cora Unashamed" assignment. Her screenplay for "A Lesson Before Dying" earned her an Emmy Award. She is currently writing an adaptation of the novel "Country of My Skull" (about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission) for Phoenix Pictures.
Marian Rees (Producer)
is one of television's most honored producers. In addition to serving as a principal of ALT Films, she also has her own production company, Marian Rees Associates, for which she has produced or executiveproduced more than 25 films for commercial television. They have included "Miss Rose White" and "Love is Never Silent," both of which won the coveted Emmy Award for Best Television Motion Picture. Other films include "In Pursuit of Honor," "Foxfire," "Home Fires Burning," "Ruby Bridges," and many others. In all, MRA produced films have won eleven Emmy Awards and virtually every other major television honor.
ALT Films (producers): ALT is new production company formed by Marian Rees, Anne Hopkins, and Stephen Kulczycki to produce five films for EXXONMOBIL MASTERPIECE THEATRE'S AMERICAN
COLLECTION. Rees and Hopkins are long-time associates in Marian Rees Productions, one of the television industry's most respected production companies. MRA films have won multiple Emmy Awards and
many other honors. Many MRA productions have aired as part of The Hallmark Hall of Fame. Kulczycki was responsible for the development and/or production of several awardwinning PBS series, including
such landmarks as "American Cinema," "The Great War," and "Searching for God in America." He co-executive-produced or was executive in charge of two Emmy Awardwinning family series, "The Puzzle Place"
and "Storytime."
