Herb Newsome Returns to United Solo with BREAK IT DOWN

Break It Down, written and performed by Herb Newsome is a multimedia show that tells the story of the early days of Hip Hop through a live performance of the four elements: DJing, Emceeing, B-Boying and Graffiti Art. Explore the history behind the music set in the Bronx, NY, during a time where urban decay and gang culture inspired a people to create their own form of expression. Playing 10 Characters using music, dance, video, graffiti, and rhyming, the audience will be taken on a journey through the world of Hip Hop.

Herb returns for a third time to the United Solo Festival after performing in the solo shows R.L. at the Crossroads, about the legendary blues Musician Robert Johnson and Freeman In Paris, a play about bebop era jazz musicians. Born and raised in Staten Island, NY, he is an actor/writer currently splitting time between New York and Los Angeles. He began his acting career as a young boy in the John Sayles film The Brother From Another Planet. He then went on to appear in the Off-Broadway play Black Girl by J.E. Franklin at the Second Stage Theater staring a young Angela Bassett. He received his BA in Theater from the University at Albany before going on to get his MFA in Acting from Penn State. As an actor, his selected theater credits include A Raisin in the Sun, Take Me Out, The Meeting, Macbeth, Richard III, Revenge of a King, Re:Definition, Freeman in Paris, No Place To Be Somebody and five August Wilson plays- Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, Jitney, The Piano Lesson, Radio Golf. His Film credits include The Brother from Another Planet, The Pick Up Artist, Sweet Nothings, Untamed, and Abandoned. He is cast in the upcoming feature Miranda directed by Kent Sutton.

As a playwright, he has penned three solo shows, Break It Down, In Devil's Heaven, Freeman in Paris, which was honored with 2011 Humanities Scriptwriting Award presented by the Institute of African American Research at UNC-Chapel Hill. His full-length play Revenge of a King, a Hip Hop musical based on Shakespeare's Hamlet, has been produced in 8 cities across the country and well as a production at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa.

2017 United Solo, the world's largest solo theatre festival, currently in its 8th year, will present 120 shows from six continents at Theatre Row: 410 West 42nd Street, New York City. TICKETS, with a price of $35 (plus a $2.25 theatre restoration charge) are available at Theatre Row box office, 410 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036, as well as over the phone at 212.239.6200 and online at telecharge.com. More details can be found at www.unitedsolo.org

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