<P> Soul musician Ryan Shaw got his start performing in this play in 1998 . The play received its first staging in Atlanta in 1992 . The play toured from 1998 to 2000 . </P> <P> Grammy award winning vocalist Ann Nesby of the musical and instrumental group Sounds of Blackness played a supporting role in this play / production . </P> <P> This hard - hitting play used comedy and drama to tell a story of two adult survivors of child abuse who became the people that their abusive mother said they would be . It is also the story of how they overcame the power of God with a shocking twist at the end . Mary (Shirley Marie Graham), the lead character, married and had two children before she had the opportunity to become an adult herself . Emotionally and spiritually irresponsible, she sought the succor of drugs to alleviate the pressure of rearing her children . This drug abuse manifests itself in verbal, emotional and physical abuse toward her children . She is unable to see the beauty of her own children, and addicted to drugs, unable to alter the destructive path she has embarked upon . Compounding an already dysfunctional family situation, the husband is abusive to his wife and children as well, molesting his older son, Sam (Ryan Shaw), which results in a dramatic plot twist later in the play . Fanny (Ann Nesby), is a mother divorcing her husband after becoming a famous singer . In a bold move to pursue her dreams she had to leave her daughter Ellen (Jamecia Bennett), to be raised by her husband, Joe (Tyler Perry). </P> <Ul> <Li> Tyler Perry as Joe </Li> <Li> Shirley Marie Graham as Mary </Li> <Li> Ann Nesby as Fanny </Li> <Li> Jamecia Bennett as Ellen </Li> <Li> Chandra Currelley as Emma </Li> <Li> Latrice Pace as Millie </Li> <Li> Ryan Shaw as Sam </Li> <Li> Carl Pertile as Mitch </Li> <Li> Jasmine Ross as Lequita </Li> <Li> Quan Howell as Johnny </Li> </Ul>

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