It is extremely unfortunate that in a city the size of Calgary you are still hard pressed to see a performance with a cast that is not majority white. At least in the last few years of reviewing shows that has been my experience. Upon entrance into the chic performance space of Alberta Theatre Project’s Martha Cohen Theatre first I was struck by the positively splendid stage set and, as the performance began, I was next struck by a virtually all black cast.

Many times amid stage shows I am grappling to find something positive, something fresh that the cast or plot is offering. Friday night seated in row G with a plastic cup of ale in hand I needed not stretch a vague truth, search for a redeeming role or exercise my imagination at all. Everything I seek in a live theatre performance was there before me; I could sit back, let go, and be equal parts entertained and emotionally titillated.

Intimate Apparel is the story of a good Christian woman’s pursuit of love in – to borrow a Rihanna lyric – a hopeless place. She is surrounded by women whose same pursuit has led them to disappointment, loneliness, and the bottle.

Sounds like a familiar plot line? What makes this piece different is that the lead is not the typical service girl, nor is she the equally as predictable wayward noble lady drifting amid a lucid comma of ennui (though this character does make an appearance in the show as well). Esther, played by both Mount Royal College and University of Calgary grad Karen Robinson, is a working black woman good with money, strong on morale, and even better at sewing.

Esther does, however, possess two major weaknesses. One, she cannot read nor white. Two, she lets her vision of love interfere with its actual picture.

In the privacy of many intimate rooms Esther stitches together the vibrant undergarments that keep the ladies of Manhattan – rich and poor, married and unwed – literally held together. Esther wants for nothing but good love, and will sacrifice everything but her soul to attain it. The women she sews for become her voice in the love letters she posts to the hunky, glistening man-in-Panama of her dreams.

Is George falling for Esther or her posse of lost Manhattan belles? Is she falling for the melodic voice of the exotic, glistening man we see sweating and toiling for a better life, or the whimsy of her own fancy?

Regardless, in 1905 we are reminded that a woman, once taken, can do little else than try to appease her man no matter whom he is – and God help her if she can’t.

"It’s your duty to keep his member FIRMLY at home," Esther is wisely is advised by her otherwise prim, proper and nosy room keep Mrs. Dickson.

Intimate Apparel is written by playwright Lynn Nottage whose play Ruined won her a Pulitzer Prize, an OBIE, the Lucille Lortel Award and numerous others. Nottage is known for her strong African female characters and the interesting stories she delivers for them to triumph in.

"...Nottage is rescuing these people – our true founding fathers and mothers – from the anonymity of the past," states ATP Artistic Director Vanessa Porteous. "...Nottage has written a political statement wrapped in embroidered silk."

Director of the piece, Nigel Shawn Williams, says, as a man, he might not view nor tackle his own inner quests the way this play’s heroine has, but that "the most heart wrenching aspect of this beautiful play... is how human Esther is."

Williams has taken a brief absence from his international tour with the Blue Eyed Ferries to launch another season at ATP. His works have historically received no less than seven Dora or Betty Mitchell Award nominations and under his belt he holds numerous wins for Best New Play and Best Director.

"Our lives are a patchwork of events and decisions that can be torn apart by our desires," he writes. "Sometimes... we become better because of that tear, and sometimes, not. What is Esther’s fate?"

Fed by raw, honest performances from an irresistible cast, and watered with an excellent, comical and witty script, Intimate Apparel should be boasting a full house every night, but Friday many rows sat empty. What else in this city is shadowing this little gem that nestles in the belly of the Epcore Centre?

If theatre is your treat cancel a wine tasting or a comedy club night or a Groupon dinner and go raise your glass (in one of the only theatres that still allows you such a luxury) in a toast ‘to one less spinster in New York City’.