“In Love With Tyrone” is a musical about a woman’s journey to find herself again after she has been betrayed by the love of her life. It’s a drama portraying a successful businesswoman who is married and in love with a local pawn shop owner who has a wandering eye, and through faith and the love of her friends and devoted mother, she triumphs against all odds.  It is a story about what happens when the right woman falls in love with the wrong man. 

It is a musical drama with an urban, Black Gospel feel. “In Love With Tyrone” will give audiences a rare and unique perspective on a black family with its contemporary issues and struggles. Audiences will be enthralled as they sit-in on this upper-middle class progressive black family. They will be captivated and amused by the humor and wittiness of the characters.  They will empathize and be drawn in as they identify with the struggles that tear at the fragile fabric holding the family together. Their emotions will come alive as right and wrong unfolds itself on stage with mounting and inevitable confrontations. And they will be riveted as they become immersed in contemporary Gospel and other musical numbers that lift spirits and help tell the story of how this family copes, survives and succeeds.

Some of the characters helping to take the audience on this urban journey are:

“Danetta” – a driven, smart and savvy Salon-owner and supportive wife who has grown tired. She knows Tyrone isn’t treating her the way she deserves to be treated; yet, letting him go isn’t an option. After years of building her chain of salons, the last thing she wants is to be successful and alone. Tyrone appeared to be the man of her dreams, but the relationship has become a nightmare. For Danetta, something has to change.

“Tyrone” – a “self-made” Pawn Shop owner who prides himself on being an “entrepreneur” in the black community. He’s anything, but a faithful husband; only one word describes him, selfish. His charming and manipulative personality captivates every woman he encounters. He loves Danetta, but she simply isn’t enough to quench his desire for other women. His womanizing impulsion lands him smack in the middle of a love triangle with Danetta’s best friend, Candy.

“Candy” – she is witty, beautiful and intelligent, but a vixen who has two loves, men and money. Her obvious and undeniable attraction to Tyrone has her “best friend’s” family and friends alike on the defense. Like Tyrone, Candy has an insatiable desire for the good life, which leads her to introduce him to the street-wise loan-shark, Sullivan.

“Sullivan” – promises to expand Tyrone’s businesses with a significant investment. But when it’s time to pay up, Tyrone finds his promiscuous financial and extra-marital affairs to be more than what he bargained for. He resorts to what he knows best; deceiving and lying to everyone, even himself.

Things come to a head when Sullivan finds alternative ways to make Tyrone pay him back his money and Candy reveals her deepest and true intentions. Audiences will be absorbed as they watch Tyrone smooth his way out of one dilemma after another and as Danetta uses her steady faith in God and her mother’s wisdom to carry her through.

“In Love With Tyrone” is a stage-play written, directed and produced by Ericka Nicole Malone. Ms. Malone is an African-American playwright who has always been interested in Urban Theater since her early days at Western Kentucky University. She has always desired to communicate and convey the complexities of modern life in the black community by bringing to stage a microcosm of that community from a black female perspective. In creating “In Love With Tyrone”, Ms. Malone’s primary concern has been that of being authentic; not just writing from a biased opinion, but really talking and listening to people and then representing and re-creating, on stage, the genuine Urban experience.

Ericka Nicole Malone has written, directed and produced more than nine stage plays including, “I Feel Like Praising Him” and “You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down” in cities such as Milwaukee, WI, Lafayette, LA, Grand Rapids, MI, South Bend, IN and her hometown, Louisville, KY. Ms. Malone’s hilarious writing style and ability to touch and connect with her audience invokes both tears and laughter.  Combined with her depth of substance and vintage humor, Ericka Nicole Malone is indeed an unmistakable figure in Urban Theater. “In Love With Tyrone” is Ms. Malone’s finest effort yet and will distinguish her as this decade’s playwright to watch.