TELL MARTHA NOT TO MOAN Opens at Fox Studio Theater Tonight

Featuring the original cast and starring Russell Costen and Adrienne Martin-Fullwood, Tell Martha Not to Moan by Clinnesha D. Sibley is about the 40th Commemoration of the Detroit Riot. A series of memories unfold in a family home in Detroit, 2007, and takes us on a unique and personal journey with a devoted but desolate elderly couple. With compelling dialogue and complex relationships, Tell Martha Not to Moan is a glimpse into the changing world as viewed from an African American home and was the 1st World Premiere of Athena Project's 2013 Arts Festival. It will be playing at the Fox Studio Theater July 5-21, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are $22 for adults, $20 for Students/Seniors/Military Discount, and $18 for groups of 8 or more. You may purchase tickets online at www.athenaprojectfestival.org or contact the box office at 303-739-1970.

Founder & Executive Producer Angela Astle says, "We just can't leave the Patterson's alone. Our 3 week run during the Athena Project Arts Festival 2013 was an overwhelming success. Many audience members wanted to bring friends and family back to see the show. So we've decided to remount it, exactly as it was before, at The Fox. In addition, as our annual fundraiser, we decided to do what we know how to do best. Put on a play."

Clinnesha D. Sibley is a published poet and award-winning playwright from McComb, Mississippi. Her plays have been presented for the Arkansas Repertory Theatre's Voices at the River Playwriting Residency, NYCPlaywrights Play of the Month Series, D.C. Black Theatre Festival, TheatreSquared's Arkansas New Play Festival, Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and Penumbra Theatre's highly acclaimed Word(s)PLAY! Program. In 2009, she received the Key Woman Educator in Drama Award from the Iota Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma Society. In 2011,her play, Tell Martha Not to Moan, received the Holland New Voices Award at the Great Plains Theatre Conference, was a semifinalist in the 2012 Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference. Her short play, Bound by Blood, is published in Black Magnolias Literary Journal 6.2. Clinnesha is an Assistant Professor of Drama at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Athena Project is a professional group of artists dedicated to supporting and expanding women's artistic contributions to the Denver stage and the wider community.

Photo Credit: Rachel Graham of RDG Photography