I Know I've Been Changed

I Know I've Been Changed
Written by	Tyler Perry
[Official site Official site]

I Know I've Been Changed was the first major successful play from famed playwright Tyler Perry. Tyler was homeless and decided to give the theater scene one more chance. The play focuses on critical issues including child abuse and rape. The play started Tyler's groundbreaking career.

Soul musician Ryan Shaw got his start performing in this play in 1998.

Grammy award winning vocalist Ann Nesby of Sounds of Blackness played a supporting role in this play/production.

Plot

Mary, the lead character, married and had two children before she had the opportunity to become an adult herself. Emotionally and spiritually irresponsible, she sought the succor of drugs to alleviate the pressure of rearing her children. This drug abuse manifests itself in verbal, emotional and physical abuse toward her children. She is unable to see the beauty of her own children, and addicted to drugs, unable to alter the destructive path she has embarked upon. Compounding an already dysfunctional family situation, the husband is abusive to his wife and children as well, molesting his older son which results in a dramatic plot twist later in the play.

Cast

• Tyler Perry as Joe
• Shirley "Marie" Gram as Mary
• Ann Nesby as Fannie
• Lashun Pace as Sister Millie Lewis, replaced by Latrice Pace
• Jamecia Bennett as Ellen, replaced by Saycon Sengbloh
• Chandra Currelley-Young as Emma
• Darnell Harris as Sam
• Sylvia Cannon as Lequita
• Carl Pertile as Mitch
• Bernadette Grant
• Ryan Shaw
• Quan Howell

Trivia

• In this play Tyler Perry portrays the character Joe, a character still being portrayed by Tyler Perry in his movies. The character is revealed in later works to be the brother of Madea (Tyler Perry's most famous character).