Billie Holiday Theatre News

The Billie Holiday Theatre is proud to announce the cast and selected writers for the fourth monologue showcase of its popular series - 50in50: Letters to Our Sons.

The Billie Holiday Theatre announced Cheryl West's Before It Hits Home, winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, directed by Indira Etwaroo, Artistic Executive Director of The Billie with an original score by Daniel Bernard Roumain. Previews begin March 28, 2020 with Opening Night on Wednesday, April 8, 2020 and running through April 26 at The Billie Holiday Theatre, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11216.

The Billie Holiday Theatre (BHT) announces its annual global call for stories - 50in50: Letters to Our Sons. For the fourth year, MacArthur a?oeGeniusa?? Dominique Morisseau's curatorial statement calls women from all walks of life to share their stories. A diverse group of 50 stories will be selected to be read by a renowned collective of women actors in Brooklyn, New York followed by the West Coast premiere at the dynamic and newly-created WACO Theater Center in Los Angeles, California. Readings will take place in March 2020.

A new family comedy is coming to town. Chicken and Biscuits by award winning composer-playwright and actor Douglas Lyons (Beautiful), will premiere at Queens Theatre, Feb 28th-March 22nd, 2020.

Today, AUDELCO (Audience Development Committee) President Jackie Jeffries, SeasonWalk Productions CEO Denise Gray, Marcia Pendelton, President of Walk Tall Girl Productions/Black Theater Online, and the Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts, LIU Brooklyn Campus (Rodney Hurley, Managing Director) announced THE THEATERMAKERS - A Black Theater Preview: Winter/Spring Edition.

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce will pay tribute to the work of outstanding business and community leaders at its Black History celebration on Tuesday, February 4th, 2020, at the Billie Holiday Theatre at Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn. The evening celebration begins with a Cocktail Hour at 6:00 p.m. followed by the Awards Ceremony at 7:15 p.m.

Casting is set for Studio Theatre's production of Pipeline, playwright Dominique Morisseau's searing drama about the school-to-prison pipeline and a mother desperately trying to keep her son from becoming ensnared in it. The production runs January 15-February 16, 2020 and is directed by Awoye Timpo. Starring are DC theatre favorite Justin Weaks (Studio's Curve of Departure) as high school student Omari and Andrea Harris Smith making her Studio debut as his mother, public school teacher Nya. In its recent People Issue, Washington City Paper's called Weaks a 'standout,' going on to say: 'D.C. theater audiences love Justin Weaks. ...Weaks came to D.C. for a job about four years ago, not expecting to stay. But he kept getting cast in shows, and lucky for local theatergoers, he's still here.'

The year may be winding down, but Queens Theatre is just getting started with a trio of Queens debuts, two Family Series shows based on beloved children's books and the launch production of a family comedy that was a hit with our Reading Series audiences.

The year may be winding down, but Queens Theatre is just getting started with a trio of Queens debuts, two Family Series shows based on beloved children's books and the launch production of a family comedy that was a hit with our Reading Series audiences.

In Chicken and Biscuits, Baneatta and Beverly attempt to put their sisterly differences aside to bury their father, Bernard. All is well at the funeral until it's revealed that Bernard had not just two daughters, but three. Wig pins loosen, as truths emerge, leaving this African-American family to confront their skeletons head on; naturally with lots of love, shade, and prayer along the way.

The Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, in partnership with SHOW- SCORE.COM, recently launched ALL NEW YORK'S A STAGE, the first-ever campaign dedicated to raising the visibility of our vibrant local theater industry, which is made up of small venues, companies and related organizations throughout the five boroughs.

Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), the theatrical union that represents over 4,000 professional stage directors and choreographers announced that due to an overwhelming number of a?oeStandout Momentsa?? nominations for the 2018-2019 season, SDC will add an eleventh a?oeStandout Moments,a?? to the traditional list of ten.

The world premiere of Reparations marks the sixth production of Sheldon's plays, which include Shiverman, nominated as Best Play of 2012 by London's Off-West End Awards.  Directed by Tony Award-nominee Michele Shay (August Wilson's Seven Guitars and Raisin in the Sun on Broadway, The Old Settler at The Billie, 2018 AUDELCO-winning Best Revival of the Year) Reparations stars Lisa Arrindell (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on Broadway, A Lesson Before Dying, Madea's Family Reunion), Kamal Bolden (The Resident, Chicago Fire, Rosewood), Alexandra Neil (Madoff, and Rock 'n' Roll and Match on Broadway), and Gys de Villiers (Mandela Long Walk to Freedom, Vehicle 19, It Gets Better).

Emmy and 2019 Tony Award-winning actor, singer, dancer, director, choreographer, playwright and educator André De Shields received the 2019 Project1Voice Lifetime Achievement Award.

Today, AUDELCO (Audience Development Committee) President Jackie Jeffries , Project1Voice Founder and CEO Erich McMillan-McCall , Marcia Pendelton , President of Walk Tall Girl Productions/Black Theater Online, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (Kevin Young, Director, Schomburg Center) announced THE THEATERMAKERS - A Black Theater Preview: Fall Edition.

A powerful gathering of black women of Broadway and New York Theatre was celebrated for their artistry and achievements at the Café Mocha 9th Annual Salute Her Awards, held Monday, September 16, 2019, at the Gerald W. Lynch Theatre in New York City.

The Billie Holiday Theatre Artistic and Executive Director Dr. Indira Etwaroo announced the line-up today for The Billie Holiday Theatre's Fall 2019 Season and 2019 a?" 2020 Season Highlights at their newly-renovated home at Restoration Plaza on 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11216. This historic landmark theater a?" theater home to the largest community of African Americans in the nation: Central Brooklyn a?" encompassing a 199-seat theater, state-of-the-art studio spaces, a gallery space, and outdoor plazas, has been home to world-class storytelling for 47 years. Forged in the sociocultural and aesthetic kiln of the Civil Rights and Black Arts Movements, The Billie Holiday Theatre continues to celebrate the diversity, intersectionality, and complexity of the African diaspora from around the corner and around the world with an almost-five decade, keenly honed consciousness for social justice through narrative.

The Frank Silvera Writers Workshop kicks off its forty-seventh annual reading series this Monday September 9th at 7pm with David Davila's immigration drama, Aztec Pirates And The Insignificance Of Life On Mars. The reading, directed by Nilsa Reyna, features Ollie Corchado, Cory Alexander, Lillian Andrea De Leon, Julia Botero, Selina Michelle Fonseca, Gerard Lucero, Alexandra Castro, and Jatnna Marte.

RestorationART at Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation facilitates a call to rally the NYC arts community to come together as one voice at the non-partisan event, SPEAK FREEDOM on Sunday, August 25 - the actual day when the first slave ship, the White Lion, made the first Trans-Atlantic voyage 400 years ago to bring a?oe20 and odda?? people of Africa to the shores of Jamestown.

Gloucester Stage Company continues its 40th Anniversary Season of professional theater with the Boston area premiere of Richard Strand's Ben Butler from August 2 through August 25 at Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. Richard Strand's Ben Butler, a smart and funny discourse on race, protocol and our sense of humanity garnered high critical acclaim during its Off Broadway run in 2016. New York's Joseph Discher who helmed the show's world premiere production in 2014 and the Off Broadway production in 2016, makes his GSC debut directing Ben Butler. Actors Ames Adamson as General Benjamin Butler and Shane Taylor as escaped slave Shepard Mallory make their GSC debut in Ben Butler. GSC veterans Doug Bowen-Flynn as Lieutenant Kelly and David DeBeck as Confederate Major Cary complete the cast. Richard Strand's Ben Butler, runs from August 2 through August 25. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 pm and Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 pm at Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA.