Classical Theatre of Harlem's FUTURE CLASSICS Begins 10/15

The Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH), in partnership with the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, has announced the first three readings in their new play development series called "Future Classics."

CTH's Future Classics Program promotes emerging playwrights, in particular African-American writers, whose work is persistently underrepresented on American stages. The program supports work in early stages of development through a series of workshops with the provision of professional actors and directors.  The program culminates with a free public reading at the Schomburg Center, giving playwrights a chance to hear their work theatrically and share the experience with a responsive audience.

All Future Classics Readings will be held at The Schomburg Center, located at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard at 135th Street (2 or 3 train to 135th Street), New York. Admission is free.

CTH is most interested in work that speaks to an expansive view of the classic, responds to classical subjects and themes, addresses the history of African-Americans, or focuses on the history, culture and community of Harlem.

CTH FUTURE CLASSICS READINGS (first three)

Katori Hall's Saturday Night Sunday Morning
By Katori Hall
Directed by Lydia Fort
October 15, 2008 at 7pm
In the final days of World War II, the tenants of Miss Mary's Press & Curl, a beauty shop and boarding house for women, are waiting for their men to come home.  Leanne, an illiterate Texan beauty queen hailing has waited years for her lover's letters, but they have yet to come. Gladys, a church-going Alabama secretary, moves in with a typewriter and the gift for words, and the girls' worlds are turned upside down. Katori Hall's poignant new comedy is about love and awakenings in a changing time. Ms. Hall's plays include the critically-acclaimed Hoodoo Love (3 AUDELCO nominations, mentored by Lynn Nottage), Remembrance, Hurt Village, Saturday Night/Sunday Morning, The Mountaintop, On the Chitlin' Circuit, and Freedom Train (KCACTF 10 minute play national finalist).

STEPCHILD:  Frederick Douglass & Abraham Lincoln
By David W. Blight and Peter Almond
Directed by Alfred Preisser (pictured)
November 10, 2008 at 7pm
Featuring André DeShields as Frederick Douglass and produced in association with the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, the Smithsonian Institute and Howard University, Stepchild is a tour de force one-person play focusing on the complex and often conflicted relationship between Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.  Lincoln, who found "greatness thrust upon him," has just been assassinated in the nation's capitol. Douglass, perhaps the most powerful symbol and agent of the Abolitionist movement in America, is nearing the end of his life. He contemplates his life's journey, his struggles with American culture and the true nature of his friendship with Lincoln.  The playwright, David W. Blight, is a Professor of American History and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance & Abolition at Yale University.  He is one of the nation's foremost authorities on the US Civil War and its legacy, and author of A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom, Including Their Narratives of Emancipation, (Harcourt, 2007), and Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (Harvard University Press, 2001), which received eight book awards, including the Bancroft Prize, the Abraham Lincoln Prize, and the Frederick Douglass Prize as well as four awards from the Organization of American Historians, including the Merle Curti prizes for both intellectual and social history.

HALAL BROTHERS
By Aladdin Ullah
Directed by Christopher McElroen
November 19, 2008 at 7pm
On February 25th, 1965 two immigrant Bengali brothers --owners of their very first Halal store in Harlem -- prepare a huge order for Malcolm X's new congregation at the Audubon Ballroom.  The ensuing events take place during that fateful day between the two brothers. Each is at a crossroads. The older brother is intent on making his "American Dream" come true; the younger is struggling with his affection for his African-American tutor from City College.  Playwright Aladdin Ullah has been pioneering the past decade as one of the very first South Asians to perform stand-up comedy on national television, including appearances on HBO, Comedy Central, MTV, BET, and PBS. Co-founder and host of the ground breaking multi-ethnic stand-up show Colorblind, which Mel Watkins of the New York Times hailed as "hilarious, thought provoking and ground breaking." Aladdin is a current member of the Emerging Writers Group at the Public Theater and recipient of the IAAC (Indo American ARTS) residency at the Lark Theater and the Paul Robeson Development Grant.

About the Classical Theatre of Harlem

Now in its Tenth Season, the Classical Theatre of Harlem has staged nearly forty productions, which have included numerous works by Shakespeare, Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Jean Genet's seminal political drama, The Blacks: A Clown Show. The Classical Theatre of Harlem is dedicated to producing theatre that truly reflects the diversity of ideas and racial tapestry of New York City. Their long list of awards includes 5 OBIE Awards, 2 Lucille Lortel Awards, a Drama Desk Award and the Edwin Booth Award for Artistic Excellence, among many others.  Their most recent work includes Ty Jones' Emancipation (developed in CTH's Future Classics program), and Melvin Van Peebles' Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death staged outdoors in New York City Parks.

For information about tickets and schedules, please visit the company's web site at www.classicaltheatreofharlem.org.

Photo credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.