A Play at Seattle Rep Brings Nina Simone Back to Life

by Charles Mudede PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JESSICA STEINThe musical career of American pianist Nina Simone has three important events.
The first one happens when a white woman who employs Simone's mother as a maid recognizes that the young black girl is a prodigy. The woman attends a service at the mother's church one Sunday, hears the girl play, and is so impressed that she decides to fund piano lessons.
The piano teacher turns out to be Muriel Mazzanovich. And it's here that something special hap