Penumbra Theater is presenting James Baldwin's "The Amen Corner" at the Guthrie. Director Lou Bellamy says he's waited 30 years to do the show, but now he has all the elements he needs, including his own perspective.

The show stars Greta Oglesby as a woman running a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem in the 1950's who struggles with a dysfunctional family and growing tensions in her congregation. With a cast and crew of close to 50, including a gospel choir, it's one of the largest shows Penumbra has done in recent years, and interestingly opens just a week or so after the angry debate on the Guthrie lack of diversity in its next season.