Black History Month

Your Arms Too Short to Box with God

Vinnette Carroll, Alex Bradford, and Micki Grant

Play, first produced 1975

A critically acclaimed two-act musical based on the Gospel of St. Matthew, Your Arms Too Short to Box with God features music and lyrics by Vinnette Carroll, Alex Bradford, and Micki Grant. Commissioned by the Italian government and directed by Carroll, the play was first performed in Spoleto, Italy, at the Festival of Two Worlds in 1975. It was later featured at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on Broadway, and in a six-month tour that, due to its popularity, was extended to nearly a year and a half. Framed by a church service, the play traces scriptural events from the day Jesus Christ arrives in Jerusalem to the morning of the resurrection.