April Wheat
as Celie
April, BM. Vocal performance Xavier University, M.A. University of Houston, has made her mark on Houston, performing jazz, gospel, classical, and musical theater. Ms. Wheat's credits include Chicken and Biscuits, Alone: a short film, Love and Southern Discomfort, Paradise Blue, Respect: the Musical Journey of Women, Ain’t Misbehavin, The Wise Women, A Pastor’s Prayer, Sanctified, If We Only Knew, Djembe, and many more. April performs solo engagements as well as with many groups most notably The Phillip Hall Singers. Ms. Wheat is honored to be working with The Garden Theatre and The Sankofa Collective. She is currently a music educator and lives in Houston, TX. You can follow her @whoisaprildawn.
Aria Hope
as Shug Avery
Aria attended Appalachian State University, where she studied classical music. She also studied music internationally in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, and Zululand South Africa, at the University of Johannesburg in 2009. Previous roles include Joseph the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat (The Narrator), L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love), Building God’s House (Young Mildred), Black Nativity & Glory of Gospel, Black Stars of the Great White Way, Ghost the Musical, When Temptation Comes, Pecong (Mediyah), Brother Toad (Shayna), at theaters such as 1989 Dream Productions, the Ensemble Theatre, and many others. Aria has also appeared in several films.
