Glynn Turman, Rocky Carroll to Star in "Ceremonies in Dark Old Men" January 14-18

Emmy Award winner Glynn Turman (The Wire), Tony nominee Rocky Carroll (Navy NCIS) and John Cothran, Jr. (Black Snake Moan) are set to head the cast when L.A. Theatre Works presents Ceremonies in Dark Old Men by Academy Award nominee Lonne Elder, III. Five performances take place January 14-18 at the Skirball Cultural Center, where they will be recorded to air on LATW's nationally syndicated, weekly radio theater series, The Play's The Thing.

First produced by the Negro Ensemble Company in 1969, this classic masterpiece is the portrait of a Harlem family that dreams of a better life, but pursues it in tragic ways. Ceremonies in Dark Old Men opened the door for new generation of African American playwrights, including Joseph A. Walker, Leslie Lee, Steve Carter, Richard Wesley, Samm-Art Williams and August Wilson.

"Ceremonies illuminated the dilemma of a black family living in Harlem at the dawn of the sixties," says director JudyAnn Elder, the playwright's widow and formerly a resident actor with the Negro Ensemble Company who appeared in the 1969 seminal production. "In a place like Harlem, populated by marginalized people, it reflected the social, economic and political quagmire that institutionalized racism can spawn. Now, over 40 years since its conception, this American classic still resonates with clarion clarity. The United States has, with the election of Barack Obama as President, finally chosen content of character over color of skin. Nonetheless, the wretched vestiges of prejudice, impoverishment and self-victimization continue to cripple and corrupt inner-city communities all over America. And, indeed, the world."

She continues, "I was so pleased when Susan [Loewenberg] approached me about doing Ceremonies. By recording it for radio we will have the opportunity to produce and preserve a definitive and authentic audio interpretation of this great play."

Lonne Elder, III [1927-1996] was one of the leading African-American figures who aggressively informed the New York theater world with black social and political consciousness. An orphan who grew up during the Depression, Elder immersed himself in the Harlem literary scene, receiving encouragement from poets Robert Hayden and Langston Hughes, among others. Working as a stage actor, Elder appeared in the original Broadway production of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. Inspired by Hansberry and his friendship with dramatist Douglass Turner Ward, Elder set his sights on becoming a playwright.

The Negro Ensemble Company's Ceremonies in Dark Old Men was one of the most meaningful theatrical events of the late sixties, a culmination of Elder's meditations on the black family unit in a hostile American society. Edith Oliver from The New Yorker stated in her review, "Ceremonies is the first play by Lonne Elder III to be done professionally, and if any American has written a finer one I can't think what it is." The play went on to win several drama awards and was nominated for the 1969 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Elder moved to Los Angeles where he wrote the screenplay for Sounder, which garnered four nominations at the 1972 Academy Awards including Best Adapted Screenplay.

For three decades, L.A. Theatre Works has been the leading radio theater company in the United States, committed to using innovative technologies to preserve and promote significant works of dramatic literature and bringing live theater into the homes of millions. LATW's radio theater series, The Play's The Thing, airs weekly on 89.3 FM KPCC Southern California Public Radio, and is streamed on the KPCC website for one week following each broadcast. The series can also be heard on 89.7 WGBH in Boston; 91.5 FM WBEZ in Chicago; 94.9 KUOW in Seattle; 93.5 FM KRTS "Marfa Public Radio" in Texas; 90.5 FM KUT in Austin; 88.9 FM KUNM in Albuquerque; 91.5 FM, Interlochen Public Radio in Northern Michigan; 94.1 KPFA in Northern California; 91.1 FM KRCB in Sonoma County; 89.1 KUOR in Redlands; as well as on many other public radio stations nationwide and Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Selected programs from LATW are also heard internationally over BBC World Service, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Telefis Eirann (Ireland), Radio Hong Kong, and Radio New Zealand.The L.A. Theatre Works Audio Theatre Collection is available in bookstores, libraries, through their catalog, digitally on itunes, overdrive.com, audible.com, and on the L.A. Theatre Works website at www.latw.org.

Performances of Ceremonies in Dark Old Men take place on Wednesday, January 14 at 8 pm; Thursday, January 15 at 8 pm; Friday, January 16 at 8 pm; Saturday, January 17 at 2:30 pm; and Sunday, January 18 at 4 pm. Tickets range from $20.00 to $48.00. The Skirball Cultural Center is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd, off the San Diego (405) Freeway in the Santa Monica Mountains (exit Skirball Center Drive). For tickets and information, call the L.A. Theatre Works box office at (310) 827-0889 or go to www.latw.org.

 

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