Ntozake Shange News

Nationally acclaimed new play development theatre, Southern Rep, finds itself in a heartbreaking situation. Ticket sales and mainstage subscriptions are at an all-time high. Arts education programming is thriving. Audiences are raving about the work and the company's new venue, the former St. Rose de Lima Church on Bayou Road. And still, Southern Rep finds itself in an urgent financial crisis as it navigates the expenses of moving into their new home.

This spring, SoHo Playhouse Inc. (Darren Lee Cole producing artistic director) and F.C.C. (Flow, Create and Connect) will present Wild Dogs Under My Skirt, the award-winning play by Samoan poet Tusiata Avia and directed by Anapela Polata'ivao. Wild Dogs Under My Skirt plays a limited six-week engagement April 16 - May 24 at SoHo Playhouse (15 Vandam Street, NYC). The official opening is Thursday, April 30 at 7:30PM. Tickets are available online at www.sohoplayhouse.com.

From February 27 to April 5, Woodie King, Jr.'s New Federal Theatre will celebrate both Black History Month and Women's History Month with an Off-Broadway production of 'Two Can Play' by Trevor Rhone, directed by Clinton Turner Davis, at Castillo Theater, 543 West 42nd Street. 

Performances begin tonight for The Shakespeare Theatre Company mounting of THE AMEN CORNER, James Baldwin's classic parable of passion and perseverance, at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F St. NW) in Washington, D.C.. The production will run from February 11-March 15, 2020. 

In October of 2019, Dr. Shirley Basfield Dunlap directed the Morgan State University (MSU) commemoration of 400 years of African presence in America. This commemoration continues at MSU this February 21st- 23rd and 27th-29th, 2020 as Dr. Dunlap directs August Wilson's The Piano Lesson from Wilson's Century Cycle, which documents the African-American experience, with each of the 10 plays set in a different decade of the 20th century.

The Creative Co-Lab (Artistic Director Bryan-Keyth Wilson) announced the complete casting today for the Houston remount of the trailblazing choreopoem FOR COLORED BOYZ ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN/ when freedom ain't enuff. The Broadway World nominee for Best Play FOR COLORED BOYZ is a choreopoem by award-winning author/ playwright Bryan-Keyth Wilson (Hood Boy Chronicles, Pamlet, The Subway Series) was inspired by Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf. The show will play March 27-29 at The DeLuxe Theatre in Houston, TX. a?oeWilson's work boldly carves its own space within the theatrical canon just as its female-focused predecessor,a?? said Alric Davis, Broadway World.

Heather Raffo's NOURA, a variation on themes from Ibsen's A DOLL'S HOUSE set within an immigrant Iraqi family, serves as the mainstage anchor for an ambitious, multi-month series of four shows plus a distinguished panel talk at the Guthrie Theater. Collectively, these comprise the theater's Celebration of Arab Artistry. It's been a vital, eye-opening, boundary-crossing initiative. Artistic Director Joseph Haj says, a?oeExpanding the idea of what the classical canon is and should look like is very much in the Guthrie's charge.a??

From February 27 to March 29, Woodie King, Jr.'s New Federal Theatre will celebrate both Black History Month and Women's History Month with an Off-Broadway production of 'Two Can Play' by Trevor Rhone, directed by Clinton Turner Davis, at Castillo Theater, 543 West 42nd Street. In this two-act comedy, Gloria and Jim, a lower middle-class couple in Kingston, try their wildest schemes to escape gun crime and establish residence in the United States. They survive because they learn to communicate and rediscover each other. Playwright Trevor Rhone was the artistic giant of Jamaican theater. The play celebrates the pent-up need for self-discovery and personal development in Jamaican women, a theme which is also universal. Director is Clinton Turner Davis, who helmed the comedy's New York premiere in 1985.

The United States Artists (USA) announced today that dancer/ choreographer Dianne McIntyre is one of fifty recipients of their 2020 USA Fellow award. Each of the fifty recipients will receive a $50,000 cash award of unrestricted funds.

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.

In keeping with the mission and vision of The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc, the company will present 'a photograph / lovers in motion,' written by Ntozake Shange and adapted and directed by Ifa Bayeza, from February 5 to 29 at Theatre 80 St. Marks, 80 St. Marks Place. The play was first produced at The Public Theater as 'a photograph / a study in cruelty' in 1977 then revised and produced at the Houston Ensemble Theater in 1982 under its current title, 'a photograph / lovers in motion.' It was presented as a feature in NEC's annual reading series in 2015, Year of the Woman.

Shakespeare Theatre Company is delighted to announce the full cast of The Amen Corner, James Baldwin's classic parable of passion and perseverance, which will grace the stage at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F St. NW) from February 11-March 15, 2020.

Every February for the past three years, JAG Productions has invited African-American theatre artists to spend a week in White River Junction, Vermont to further the development of a new play or solo performance. Over the course of the one-week residency, three to five projects receive an intensive workshop, constructive feedback, and a staged reading for the public at Briggs Opera House. This year we are excited to announce a new partnership with the Hopkins Center for the Arts, where we will be concluding our festival with our final reading at the Bentley Theater!

Best-selling author, acclaimed international speaker and business mentor Dr. Venus Opal Reese will kick-off her latest tour, The Raw Truth Book+ Tour, during three days of events in Santa Monica, California over the weekend preceding Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Highways Performances Space & Gallery will host the events on Friday, January 17th through Sunday, January 19, 2020, which consists of book signings + personal growth and wealth workshops + her unique live, solo performance, bringing Dr. Venus' story and new book to life. The Raw Truth: A Pimp Daughter's Diary, is an honest and intimate account of her spiritual healing through turning her trauma and pain into peace, purpose, passion and profits. It is now available for purchase on Amazon.com. Tickets to the Santa Monica events cost between $47 and $197. Highways Performances Space & Gallery is located at the 18th Street Arts Center (1651 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404). For more information on Dr. Venus' next Southern California appearance and tickets, please call the Highways box office at 310-453-1755 or visit https://highwaysperformance.org/event/dr-venus-opal-reese-the-raw-truth-a-pimp-daughters-diary.

The Soho Playhouse (Darren Lee Cole, producing artistic director) will kick-off the New Year with a trio of powerful productions from New Zealand, WILD DOGS UNDER MY SKIRT, THE MODERN MĀORI QUARTET: TWO WORLDS and CONTOURS OF HEAVEN beginning January 4 a?" 18, 2020. Individual tickets are $39 and can be purchased by visiting FringeEncoreSeries.com . 

Best-selling author and acclaimed international speaker and business mentor Dr. Venus Opal Reese made headlines for her inspiring and true story of rising from the tough streets of Baltimore, to earning a Stanford Ph.D. and becoming a self-made millionaire. Today, she is unleashing her new book and accompanying national tour, The Raw Truth Book+Tour.

From January 3-25, 2020, SpeakEasy Stage Company will join with The Front Porch Arts Collective, Boston's only black-led theatre company, to co-produce the New England Premiere of the acclaimed drama PASS OVER by Antoinette Nwandu.  

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) announced a fourth and final extension of the revival of for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, written by legendary playwright/poet Ntozake Shange. Directed by Obie Award winner Leah C. Gardiner with choreography by Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf began performances on Tuesday, October 8 in The Public's Martinson Hall and officially opened on Tuesday, October 22. for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf was originally scheduled to close on Sunday, November 17, and was extended four times to now run through Sunday, December 15.

92nd Street Y will welcome the casts of Broadway's Betrayal and Dear Evan Hansen, celebrate the unmatched fashion prowess of Tony Award-winner, Billy Porter, and  much more!