“Nina Simone: Four Women”

Nina Simone’s 1966 song “Four Women” paints intimate portraits of a quartet of African-American characters. Now playwright Christina Ham has turned those stories into a theatrical work with songs, opening here after a run in Minneapolis. Four Women is set in the ruins of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church, where four girls died in a 1963 Klan bombing. The horrific event pushed Simone toward activism; in the play, it bonds the characters together.