ZORA NEALE HURSTON to Host Post-Show Scholars Panel at New Federal Theatre

On Sunday, October 30, immediately after the 2:30 PM matinee performance of "Zora Neale Hurston, a theatrical biography" by Laurence Holder, New Federal Theatre will have a scholars' panel on this "queen of the Harlem Renaissance," who was a prolific novelist, playwright and journalist of the 1920s and 30s.

The play is being presented October 20 to November 20 by New Federal Theatre at Castillo Theatre, 543 West 42nd Street, Manhattan.

Participants and Scholars:

- Valerie Boyd, critically acclaimed journalist wrote the eloquent profile on one of the most intriguing figures of the twentieth century, "Wrapped In Rainbow: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston." Currently, Valerie Boyd is an Associate Professor and Charlayne Hunter-Gault Distinguished Writer- In-Residence at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.

- Dr. Brenda M. Greene, Professor of English at Medgar Evers College and Executive Director of the Center For Black Literature of the Bi-Annual National Black Writers Conference at Medgar Evers College. Her research interests are in the areas of the Literature of Women of Color, Multicultural Literature, and English Studies. Professor Greene is Co-Editor of "Defining Ourselves: Black Writers of the Nineties and Rethinking American Literature." Dr Brenda Greene holds a PhD in English from New York University.

- Dr. David Levering Lewis is the Julius Silver University and Professor of History at New York University. He is twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography of Autobiography for Part One And Part Two of his Biography of W.E.B. Du Bois. New Federal Theatre is a long time admirer of his "When Harlem was in Vogue."

- Dr. N.Y. Nathiri is Executive Director of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C), aka The Zora Neale Hurston Festival Of Arts and Humanities in Eatonville, Florida. The Festival Honors the legacy of Hurston who grew up in Eatonville. 2016 Marks the 27th Anniversary of the Zora Neale Hurston Festival. Dr. N.Y. Nathiri is the compiler and editor of the award-winning volume, Zora! Zora Neale Hurston; A Woman and Her Community. Dr Nathiri grew up in Eatonville and her grandfather was Mayor in the 1930's.

About the Play: Zora Neale Hurston, 'queen of the Harlem Renaissance,' was a prolific novelist, playwright and journalist of the 1920s and 30s. She walks the audience through her remarkable life in "Zora Neale Hurston," Laurence Holder's noted bioplay, which being revived for today's audiences by Woodie King Jr.'s New Federal Theatre. The play is rich with intimate portraits of her contemporaries, including poet Langston Hughes and novelist Richard Wright, and sparkles with excerpts from her significant works including "Mules and Men," a 1935 story collection of powerful folklore. Elizabeth Van Dyke and Joseph Edward recreate the characters they played in the play's acclaimed 1998 production at The American Place Theatre: she as Hurston, he as the men in her life.

Photo Credit: Martha Holmes