Photo Coverage: Signature Theatre Celebrates Opening Night of THE DEATH OF THE LAST BLACK MAN IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD
By: Jennifer Broski Nov. 14, 2016
Due to popular demand, the Signature Theatre production of The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World AKA the Negro Book of the Dead, by Pulitzer Prize-winner Suzan-Lori Parks and directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, has been extended an additional week. The production will now run through December 18, 2016 at The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues).
Parks is Signature's current Residency One playwright; her plays Venus, directed by Lear deBessonet, and The Red Letter Plays: In the Blood and f-ing A, directed by Jo Bonney, will be presented in 2017.
A woman tries to feed her husband a fried drumstick. Dragons roam a flat earth. The last Black man in the whole entire world dies again. And again. Careening through memory and language, Parks explores and explodes archetypes of Black America with piercing insight and raucous comedy. A riotous theatrical event, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire WorldAKA the Negro Book of the Dead hums with the heartbeat of improvisational jazz.
The cast includes William DeMeritt (HBO's The Normal Heart) as Voice on Thuh Tee V, Nike Kadri (Classic Stage's Iphigenia in Aulis) as Yes and Greens Black-Eyed Peas Cornbread, Patrena Murray (CTG's Father Comes Home from the Wars) as Ham, Reynaldo Piniella (The Erlkings at Theatre Row) as And Bigger and Bigger and Bigger, Julian Rozzell (Public's Father Comes Home from the Wars) as Old Man River Jordan, Roslyn Ruff (Signature's The Piano Lesson) as Black Woman with Fried Drumstick, Mirirai Sithole (Classic Stage's Mother Courage and Her Children) as Prunes and Prisms, David Ryan Smith (Public's The Comedy of Errors) as Before Columbus, Daniel J. Watts (Hamilton) as Black Man with Watermelon, Jamar Williams(Second Stage's Invisible Thread) as Lots of Grease and Lots of Pork, Amelia Workman (Second Stage's The Layover) as Queen-Then-Pharaoh Hatshepsut.
The creative team includes Riccardo Hernandez (Scenic Design), Montana Blanco (Costume Design), Yi Zhao (Lighting Design), Palmer Hefferan (Sound Design),Hannah Wasileski(Projection Design), Raja Feather Kelly (Choreographer), Cookie Jordan (Wig Design), Paul Rubin (Aerial Effects). Terri K. Kohler is the Production Stage Manager. Casting by Telsey + Company.
Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski
Peter Francis James, Antonia Franceschi
Suzan-Lori Parks, Lileana Blain-Cruz
Suzan-Lori Parks, Paige Evans, Lileana Blain-Cruz
David Ryan Smith
Lileana Blain-Cruz, Daniel J. Watts, Suzan-Lori Parks, Leon Addison Brown
The cast of THE DEATH OF THE LAST BLACK MAN IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD AKA THE NEGRO BOOK OF THE DEAD
The cast and creative team of THE DEATH OF THE LAST BLACK MAN IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD AKA THE NEGRO BOOK OF THE DEAD
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