Kentwood Players Presents POLAR BEARS, BLACK BOYS, & PRAIRIE FRINGED ORCHIDS Reading

Kentwood Players presents a reading of Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids, a play about the social complexities of our times written by Vincent Terrell Durham (pictured), on Sunday, March 26 at the Westchester Playhouse, located at 8301 Hindry Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90045. The evening begins with a fabulous, homemade dessert reception at 6:00pm, followed by the reading at 7:00pm, with a talkback afterwards. Admission is free, with donations gratefully accepted. Reservations are required via email to polarbears11@peoplepc.com  

Produced by Gail Bernardi, Lauren A. Jarvis and George L Rametta for Kentwood Players, the reading is directed by Nic Few who holds a Masters in Fine Arts in Acting/Directing from Brown University and a Masters in Arts in Education Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Religion/Philosophy from Clark Atlanta University. While enjoying a very successful career in Television, Film, and Theatre, Nic Few now shares his knowledge and directing expertise as a professor at Pepperdine University. The reading of Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids is his directorial debut with Kentwood Players.

Inspired by his adoptive grandfathers, August Wilson and Norman Lear, playwright Vincent Terrell Durham, an award-winning LA-based playwright, penned the play in 2017. It has the perfect blend of wit, humor, and pathos used by Wilson and Lear and invites audiences to eavesdrop on the human condition and the social complexities of our times.

In Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids we meet socially and environmentally conscious Molly Castle and her trauma surgeon husband Peter, a liberal white couple with an adopted 3-year-old black son. They open the doors of their renovated Harlem brownstone to host a last-minute cocktail party for Jaquan Wallace, an elementary school teacher and Black Lives Matter activist, his gay white partner Tom, Shameka, a local businesswoman and author, and Rita Dupree, the single mother of a slain 12-year-old Black boy. The Castles hope the gathering will help them gain a clearer understanding of Harlem, their new neighbors, and the challenges of living together in an effort to help heal seemingly unhealable wounds.

Needless to say, their eyes are soon opened to so much more when the conversation sparks emotional debates on topics ranging from underweight polar bears, unflushed toilets and saving the planet, to gentrification, racial identity, and protecting the lives of Black boys. Ultimately a near tragedy brings them all together, while an actual tragedy leaves them with more questions than answers.

Featured in the reading cast are Cat Masterson as Molly Castle, Reed Marvin as Peter Castle, Karese Frizell as Shameka Davis, Nic Few as Jaquan Wallace, Nate Bartashok as Tom and Officer Lennox, Angela Thomas as Rita Dupree, and Juliet Johnson as Reader.

Free street parking is available to audience members on 83rd Street and in the adjoining neighborhood, but not on Hindry Avenue, with left turns restricted on the corner of Hindry and Florence. Please read all traffic and parking signs carefully. Metro Train riders can take the new K Line to Kentwood, exiting at the Westchester/Veterans station at Florence and Hindry, just a short one block walk from the Westchester Playhouse.

For more information about Kentwood Players including our current and upcoming productions and open auditions, please visit the Kentwood Players website at www.kentwoodplayers.org. You can also find Kentwood Players information on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.