Caption from poster:_ 

"The Two Real Coons."

The Two Real Coons: The Legacy of Williams and Walker Created and directed by Tobie Windham. An original play about two real men, Bert Williams and George Walker, African-American performers in the early 20th century, who adopt the hugely successful tradition of the minstrel show. Director/creator Tobie Windham has brought to life a controversial and overlooked piece of history, which is both a celebration and critique of the form. The play consists of comic skits which were some original pieces from Williams and Walker. Here are some skits that are used in the play:

Bert Williams and George Walker, called the "Two Real Coons", found fame in 1896 with a musical farce called The Gold Bug. The duo's performance of the cakewalk captured the audience's attention, and they soon became so closely associated with this dance that many people think of them as its originators. Williams met Walker in San Francisco in 1893, while they played Dahomeyans in an exhibit of the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894. They played different venues while putting together their act. Williams and Walker were dropped from "Isham's Octoroons", one of the first African American companies to break from the minstrel style performance.[3] They then put together a number of small productions including A Lucky Coon, Sons of Ham, and The Policy Players, but their ultimate goal was to produce and star in their own Broadway musical. So they thought back to the times in San Francisco and produced In Dahomey (1903) alongside Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Jesse Shipp, and Will Marion Cook. Abyssinia (1906) and Bandanna Land (1908) also stood high in the Williams and Walker claim to fame. Their dreams of stardom come to life and they took musicals in a new direction, back to Africa. George Walker died during the run of Bandanna Land and his wife Ada Overton Walker substituted for him during the final week of the run.