2009 National Black Theatre Festival MainStage Productions Announced

The 2009 National Black Theatre Festival (NBTF) is taking place Aug. 3-8 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Shows will be presented at multiple venues throughout the city. Ticket prices range from $7-$42. A NBTF Stimulus Discount Ticket Package is available.

The late Larry Leon Hamlin founded the National Black Theatre Festival in 1989. His goal was to unite black theatre companies in America and ensure the survival of the genre into the next millennium.

Celebrity performances include Ella Joyce in A Rose Among Thorns; Kim Brockington in Zora; John Amos in Halley's Comet; Kim Wayans in A Handsome Woman Retreats; Aloma Wright, Hawthorne James and Jeris Lee Poindexter in Reunion in Bartersville; Wendy Raquel Robinson, Dorien Wilson, and Denise Dowse in Extremities.

This year's Festival will offer a rich variety of theatrical performances including drama, comedies, musicals, choreoplays and multi-media presentations. More than 116 performances of new works and Black classics performed by professional Black theatre companies from across the country and Cape Town, South Africa.

The Dallas/Houston regional area is represented in this year's festival as well. The Black Academy of Arts & Letters in Dallas, Texas will be presenting the comedy Obituary, a one-man show starring stage and film star Akin Babatunde. Ensemble Theatre of Houston, Texas will explore new beginnings, family ties and traditions with its drama Sty of the Blind Pig.

Companies selected to perform include:

• A Handsome Woman Retreats (Li'l Magic Productions - Los Angeles, CA - starring Kim Wayans)
• A Rose Among Thorns (Ms. Thing Productions - Los Angeles, CA, starring Ella Joyce)** - Rosa Parks
• Ascension (Robinson Williams Productions - Yonkers, NY)
• Aunt Rudele's Family Reunion (Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe-Sarasota, FL)
• Bananas (Do It Yourself Productions - Los Angeles, CA)** - Josephine Baker
• Before The People Came (Amun RA Theatre Co. - Nashville, TN)
• Black Angels Over Tuskegee (The Black Gents of Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA)
• Black Man Rising (Obsidian Media Group, New York, NY)
• Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till (Mike Wiley Productions - Apex, NC)**
• Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope (North Carolina Black Repertory Company, Winston, Salem, NC)
• Extremities (starring Wendy Raquel Robinson, Dorien Wilson, Denise Dowse - Los Angeles, CA)
• Halley's Comet (The Halley's Comet Foundation, Califon, NJ - starring John Amos)
• Hope: Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica (Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting - Washington, DC) - Multimedia presentation
• I Am Who I Am: The Story Of Teddy Pendergrass (Black Ensemble Theatre - Chicago, IL)
• In The Continuum (St. Louis Black Repertory Company, St. Louis, MO)
• It Ain't Nothin' But The Blues (Crossroads Theatre Company, New Brunswick, NJ)
• Jim Beckwourth: The Black Mountain Man (Noroza Productions - Los Angeles, CA)**
• Miles Long and Friends Experience (starring Malcolm-Jamal Warner - Los Angeles, CA)
• Nappy Journeys (Hurrey Up Stage & Film Works - Pensacola, FL)
• Reunion in Bartersville (Cambridge Players - Los Angeles, CA)
• Revenge of a King (Black Theatre Troupe, Phoenix, AZ)
• Sheneequa Chronicles (Blackberry Productions - New York, NY)
• Single Black Female (Black Spectrum Theatre-Queens, NY)
• Speak Of Me As I Am (Music Sketches - Los Angeles, CA)** - Paul Robeson
• Sweet Mama Stringbean (New Federal Theatre - New York, NY)
• Tthe High Priestess of Dark Alley (Billie Holiday Theatre - Brooklyn, NY)
• The Obituary (Black Academy of Arts and Letters - Dallas, TX)
• The Resurrection of Alice (Perri Tales Productions - New York, NY)
• The Return (Artscape - Cape Town, South Africa)
• The Sty of the Blind Pig (Ensemble Theatre - Houston, TX)
• Through the Night (Daniel Beaty Productions - New York, NY)
• Unsung Diva, Music for One Hand Clapping, The Breach, The Love Project (Cultural Odyssey - San Francisco, CA)
• Voices of the Spirits in my Soul (RACCA's Seaport Salon - New York, NY)**
• Who Will Sing For Lena? (Lions & Butterflies Artswork - Tulsa, OK)** - Lena Baker
• Wisteria (Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting - Washington, DC) - Multimedia presentation
• Womyn With Wings (Flow Theater, Columbus, OH)
• Zora (3 Girls on a Wall Productions - New York, NY - starring Kim Brockington)** - Zora Neale Hurston

Four universities have been selected to perform in the NBTF Fringe Performances program. They are:

• Black Voices: The Hidden Bruises (Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA)
• Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN)
• Mad at Miles: A Black Woman's Guide to Truth (North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC)
• The Heiress (California State University Dominguez Hills - Carson, CA)

For additional 2009 NBTF information, click on the following links:

• NBTF Schedule: http://www.nbtf.org/2009_schedule.html
• Vendor Packet Link: http://www.nbtf.org/2009_vendor_package.pdf
• Headquarter Hotels Link: http://www.nbtf.org/hotel_info.html

For more info: Call the National Black Theatre Festival at 336-723-7907 or visit www.nbtf.org. **Indicates this is part of the Inaugural Larry Leon Hamlin Solo Performance Series.