Josephine

About Us

Josephine Baker. The little girl from Missouri who became an original 20th Century icon. Baker was a famous dancer and the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture. She became a French national where she raised her 12 internationally adopted children, dubbed the Rainbow Tribe. She aided the French Resistance during WWII, which earned her the Croix de Guerre and spoke at the renowned March on Washington in 1963 alongside Martin Luther King. Josephine broke the mould and high-kicked the pieces to the kerb. But, almost 50 years after her death, Café Josephine, a down-at-heel New York diner dedicated to her memory, faces closure. Nobody remembers Josephine, who she was, what she did, what she stood for. Was it the menu? The décor? Or Jack and Marie, siblings and co-owners of the café, who have run her legacy into the ground?Either way, Josephine just can’t allow that. With a sultry, Harlem Renaissance-inspired score, spring-heeled Charleston dancing and a hatful of historical figures, Josephine blurs the real with the imagined as we follow one woman’s incredible journey from the slums of St Louis via the bright lights of Paris and into the hearts of the world. Performed by a cast of three, Josephine covers the extraordinary story of Josephine Baker: performer, spy and civil rights activist. Born in St Louis in 1906, .With a sultry, Harlem Renaissance-inspired score, spring-heeled Charleston dancing and a hatful of historical figures, Josephine blurs the real with the imagined as we follow one woman’s incredible journey from the slums of St Louis via the bright lights of Paris and into the hearts of the world.