Cast & Creative Team Announced For BREATH & IMAGINATION At The Lyric Stage

Breath & Imagination chronicles Roland Hayes's inspirational journey from a Georgia plantation to a singing career that included command performances for kings and queens. Despite his international acclaim, Roland never left behind his complex and loving relationship with his mother, his Angel Mo'. With spirituals and classical music, Breath & Imagination is a compelling musical about one man's determination to become an artist despite seemingly insurmountable odds.

"A winning, inspirational story of a man who found his freedom in song!" - WBUR, The ARTery

ODE TO HAYES

The culmination of an educational experience for teens, Castle of our Skins - a concert and educational series dedicated to celebrating Black artistry through music - presents a musical tribute to Roland Hayes. This celebration will include spirituals and art songs championed by Hayes and a world premiere work created with Boston youth. Featuring Duane Moody (from Three Mo' Tenors, and Berklee faculty) with pianist Joy Cline Phinney. Lyric Stage, December 9 & 23, 2018, 1:00-1:30pm followed by a reception.

Tickets: $10; $8 seniors/children under 12. lyricstage.com/special-event-ode-to-hayes/

The Town of BROOKLINE, home to Roland Hayes, will host a FREE welcoming event for Breath & Imagination, with the actors presenting scenes from the play, plus a talk by the play's director. Sponsored by Brookline's Office of Diversity, Inclusion & Community Relations, local grants will provide a diverse audience of attendees with a range of discounted tickets to the play. Sunday, Nov. 18, 6pm @ United Parish, 210 Harvard St.

BREATH & IMAGINATION

WHEN: Novemberr 30 - December 23, 2018

Wednesdays, Thursdays - 7:30pm

Wednesday matinees - 2pm, December 5&19

Fridays - 8pm

Saturdays - 3pm & 8pm

Sundays - 3pm

Post-show Q&A with the artists: December 2&16, after the 3pm performance

WHERE: The Lyric Stage, 140 Clarendon Street, Copley Square, Boston, MA 02116

TICKETS: Start at $25

Seniors - $10 off regular price

Student rush - $10

Group rates available

Box Office: 617-585-5678

website: lyricstage.com

Daniel Beaty (playwright) is an award-winning actor, singer, writer, and community activist. His critically acclaimed plays Through the Night, Emergency, Mr. Joy, and The Tallest Tree In the Forest - Paul Robeson, have been performed at venues ranging from Lincoln Center to the White House, and garnered numerous awards including an Obie award for writing and performance and three NAACP Theater Awards. A highly requested keynote speaker, Beaty has worked throughout the U.S., Europe, and Africa. Beaty has also spoken at staff retreats and led leadership training for myriad non-profits and corporations. In fall 2013, Beaty launched a nationwide initiative called I DREAM using the tools of storytelling to help individuals and communities heal trauma, funded by W.K. Kellogg, Ford Foundations, and Barr Foundation among others. He holds a BA with Honors in English and Music from Yale University and an M.F.A. in Acting from The American Conservatory Theatre. Beaty's feature film (co-writer and star) "Chapter & Verse" will be released in theaters nationwide in fall 2016 and he recently signed a deal with Imagine TV and 20th Century Fox to create a new hour-long drama series. Beaty completed a documentary about the impact of mass incarceration on children and families called "Behind the Glass" sponsored by the Ford Foundation. His poem "Knock Knock" became an Internet sensation receiving millions of views and has been transformed into a children's book, also titled "Knock Knock," published by Little, Brown Books. Penguin-Random House published his empowerment book "Transforming Pain to Power" in February 2014. Follow Daniel's work on Twitter @DanielBBeaty.

Davron S. Monroe* (Roland Hayes) is returning to the Lyric Stage after having appeared in Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Wiz, Camelot, Company, My Fair Lady, City of Angels, Sweeney Todd, One Man, Two Guvnors, The Mikado, Avenue Q, and Ain't Misbehavin'. Musical theatre credits include The Little Mermaid (Company Theatre), Man of La Mancha (New Rep), Godspell (Moonbox Productions), Hairspray (Reagle Music Theatre), Dreamgirls, Jesus Christ Superstar, Children of Eden, Songs for a New World (premiere, Key West Symphony, Broadway Across America), Smokey Joe's Café, Cinderella, Streakin'!, a '70s musical revue, Sweet Charity, Brigadoon, and Show Boat. Cabaret: The All Night Strut. Opera: fully staged or concert/scene productions of Carmen, Treemonisha, Porgy and Bess, La finta giardiniera, Rigoletto, Lucia di Lammermoor, La fille du régiment, L'élisir d'amore, Così fan tutte, Die Fledermaus, The Tailor of Gloucester, The Gondoliers, Aida, and Die Zauberflöte. Davron premiered the role of Thomas Edison in Juventas's New Music Group production of Light and Power. He has also appeared with many orchestral and vocal organizations, such as Boston Landmarks Orchestra (Lost in the Stars - a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" speech, and The Chariot Jubilee), the First Church UU, Belmont, the Brevard Music Center (finalist, Orlando Opera's Heinz Rehfuss Singing Actor Awards), Disney Entertainment's Voices of Liberty, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Key West Symphony (young artist), Houston Ebony Opera Guild, the New England Spiritual Ensemble, New England Voices, the Longy School Orchestra, and many other organizations throughout the greater Boston area. Davron is the first recipient of the Bob Jolly Award for up-and-coming local actors.

Yewande Odetoyinbo* (Angel Mo'), is a native of Detroit, MI and a proud graduate of Howard University, where she earned a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre and became a member of Sigma Alpha Iota. She also, holds a shiny new M.F.A. in Musical Theatre Performance from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. She returns to the Lyric Stage having appeared in The Wiz last spring. Some of her favorite performances include roles in Fannie Lou at Carnegie Hall, the national tour of Bob Marley's Three Little Birds with Adventure Theatre, Trav'lin: The 1930s Harlem Musical (Seven Angels Theatre, Waterbury, CT), Show Boat (Reagle Music Theatre and Fiddlehead Theatre), and In The Heights, and Seussical at Wheelock Family Theatre. She has been seen in various stages reading with The Front Porch Arts Collective and Goodspeed Opera House. It is her lifelong dream not only to perform and teach theatre to inner-city youth, but also to open up a performing arts school in Nigeria. She thanks the Lord for His many blessings and her family and friends for their love and support. She would also like to thank Maurice Emmanuel Parent, the Front Porch Arts Collective and the Lyric Stage family! Ase!

Doug Gerber (Mr. Calhoun/The Accompanist/Music Director) is making his Lyric Stage debut. He made his professional stage debut at the age of nine as Tiny Tim and Young Scrooge in the Huntington Theatre's production of A Christmas Carol at the Wilbur Theatre. Since then he has performed in among others, The Fantasticks, A Future Perfect (Flyleaf Theater), State Fair (Weston Friendly Society), Titanic: The Musical (Woodland Theatre), Fiddler on the Roof (Woodland Theatre), Wonderful Town (RMT), and Suddenly On Christmas Eve (Acts From The Heart). Doug has a diverse background in music as well. His conducting studies began at the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music. He received his B.A. in Music from Eastern Nazarene College, and then became an assistant to Boston area Maestro Yoichi Udagawa the following year. He made his conducting debut with the Quincy Symphony and Melrose Symphony Orchestras, and earned fellowship to the prestigious Conductors Institute of South Carolina. Doug holds a Masters degree in Orchestral Conducting from Bard College Conservatory of Music in New York where he studied under the tutelage of Maestros Harold Farberman and Leon Botstein of the American Symphony Orchestra. He is a guest conductor at Walnut Hill School for the Arts, the Boston Civic Symphony, and the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra. He has composed numerous pieces for instrumental ensembles. Berkshire Storms, for orchestra, dedicated to the unpredictable weather patterns of the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts, is published by ECS Music Publishing.

Nile Hawver* (Officer/Pa/Preacher/Miss Robinson/Frenchman/King George V) is making his Lyric Stage debut. Other Boston credits: The Irish and How They Got That Way at Greater Boston Stage Company, Man of La Mancha at New Repertory Theatre, Edward II, Actor's Shakespeare Project, Finish Line¸ Boston Theater Company, Violet, and Mothers and Sons, Speakeasy Stage, Carmen and Greek, Boston Lyric Opera, The Edge of Peace, Central Square Theatre, Etherdome, The Huntington Theatre Company, Twelfth Night, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. Regional credits include performances with Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, Ocean State Theatre Company, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, and many more. Nile holds a BFA in acting from the University of Rhode Island, and an M.F.A. in acting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His photography can be seen all over the Boston area, and has been featured as poster art for The Lyric Stage's My Fair Lady and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Nile will next been seen in the Boston premiere of Once at Speakeasy Stage in March 2019. Thanks to Maggie for all of her love and support! Proud AEA member. nilehawver.com | nilescottshots.com

Maurice Emmanuel Parent (Director) is making his professional directorial debut with this production. As an actor, he was seen at the Lyric Stage in Man of La Mancha and Into The Woods. Recently he directed Into the Woods with close friend and colleague Kelli Edwards (Brandeis University). Since 2011, he's been a Resident Acting Company member of the Actors' Shakespeare Project (ASP) and along with Paula Plum serviced as Interim Artistic Director. Mr. Parent has performed locally with the Underground Railway Theater, SpeakEasy Stage, New Rep, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Wheelock Family Theatre, Huntington Theatre, Off the Grid Theatre Company, Boston Theatre Works, Barrington Stage, and Cape Playhouse. Outside of Boston, Mr. Parent has performed nationally and abroad. He's received two Elliot Norton Awards (2008 and 2017), three Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Awards (2015, 2016, and 2017) and an Arts Impulse Award (2017). In addition to his work on stage, Mr. Parent is a Lecturer at Boston University's School of Theatre, a Visiting Artist at the Tufts University Department of Theatre and Dance, and is the 2018-2019 Boston College Monan Professor of Theatre Arts. Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Front Porch Arts Collective.

The Front Porch Arts Collective is a new black and brown led theatre company committed to advancing racial equity in Boston through theater. For nearly a decade, Boston has existed without a professional black-led theatre company employing artists of color and demanding the consideration of the major news outlets in Greater Boston. Boston's reputation as an unwelcoming and racist city, featured prominently in a seven-part Spotlight series in The Boston Globe, highlighted issues of structural racism, including the visible cultural segregation in the arts. As a black-led theater company committed to rewriting those narratives, our namesake signifies a communal spirit, inspiring us to serve communities of color and produce art that is inclusive of all communities and welcoming to all audiences, to inspire a more tolerant and inclusive Boston. Over the past year, The Front Porch has produced The God's Closet Reading Series at Central Square Theater featuring the plays of Marcus Gardley. During October 2017, black odyssey was first produced as a staged reading to a sold out audience. Since then, The Porch has announced their inaugural season co-producing Breath & Imagination with the Lyric Stage, black odyssey with Underground Railway Theater at Central Square Theater, and The Three Musketeers at Greater Boston Stage Company.