Two-Time Cancer Survivor Presents Her First One-Woman Show at the Age of 77 Civil Rights Activist, Beloved Professor, and Award-Winning Filmmaker, Dr. Georgianne Thomas Takes the Stage

​ATLANTA – Feb. 4, 2020 Seventy-seven-year-old, and two-time cancer survivor, Dr. Georgianne Thomas, beloved adjunct professor at Clark Atlanta University, who was featured on the cover of Atlanta magazine (January 2020 issue) will present her first one-woman show on Thursday, February 13, 2020, at 7:00 p.m. at the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing, located at 807 Atlanta Student Movement Drive, Atlanta, Georgia 30314. There is no admission charge, and the show is open to the public.

“I spent most of 2019 battling colon cancer after having emergency surgery in February of that year. This diagnosis blindsided me because I had been cancer-free for 17 years after my bout with breast cancer in 2002. So what do you do after being healed from cancer twice? You celebrate life by bringing a long-time dream to life – – presenting a one-woman show,” shared Thomas, whose activism as a “foot soldier” in the 1960s while a student at Spelman College was chronicled in the independent, award-winning documentary she created and executive-produced, “Foot Soldiers: Class of 1964.” The film made its debut on Atlanta’s PBS station, WPBA TV-30 in 2012.

The one-woman show will feature spoken word and songs from a musical play, “Ain’t Nobody Dancin’,” written by Thomas in 1990. It is a three-act musical play depicting the struggle of Black couples as they try to cope with upwardly mobile careers and maintain an intimate caring relationship. The stress of the day to day work – place is carried over to the home environment, and therefore carried over to the social environment. After 30 years, work from this play will be seen and heard for the first time during Thomas’s one-woman show, which is directed by Shon Walker. The music is arranged by Nancy Westmoreland. Thomas began singing at an early age in her hometown of Gary, Indiana. Her passion for music and theatre has remained with her since then.

Thomas has been a trailblazer in Atlanta for 60 years. She is one of the pioneer members of the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists; one of the first Itinerant French teachers in Fulton County Schools; the first African-American to be hired in the Public Relations department of Delta Air Lines, Inc.; and the former mayoral-appointed chairperson of the Atlanta Sisters Cities Commission – among many other noted accomplishments. She is the mother of Reverend Alvelyn Sanders Swafford, a former reporter for Atlanta’s NPR station, WABE 90.1 FM, the writer, producer, and director of the documentary, “Foot Soldiers: Class of 1964,” and a pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal denomination.

Thomas hopes this one-woman show will inspire other mature adults to follow their passion, as well as encourage other cancer survivors to celebrate life. “As seniors, we are quick to say we are too old to begin again or conjure the dream. Aging is a business based on economic development. Life is in seasons – like agriculture. If you give up on life, life will give up on you. This show will hopefully make you laugh, cry, and reflect on your own journey. I hope to ultimately inspire you to live your best life and remember to praise God from whom all blessings flow,” says Thomas.

Watch now:

Selected songs from the performance:

Gallery