Penumbra Theatre Extends SPUNK Through 4/14

Penumbra Theatre announced the addition of seven performances of SPUNK, due to popular demand. The extension runs through Sunday, April 14, 2013. The seven additional performances of the extended run are:

· Wednesday, April 10, 10:00am matinee
· Wednesday, April 10, 7:30pm
· Thursday, April 11, 7:30pm
· Friday, April 12, 7:30pm
· Saturday, April 13, 7:30pm
· Sunday, April 14, 2pm
· Sunday, April 14, 7:30pm

SPUNK, adapted by George C. Wolfe from "Three Tales" by Zora Neale Hurston, music by Chic Street Man, is directed and choreographed by Patdro Harris with musical direction and arrangement by Carlton Leake. The all-star cast features T. Mychael Rambo, Dennis W. Spears, Jevetta Steele, Austene Van, Keith JamAl Downing and Mikell Sapp.

Lou Bellamy, Artistic Director stated, "Spunk is a perfect example of Penumbra's position as an authentic interpreter of African American cultural expression for the stage. As the play unfolded, the quality of production, the actors on stage, and Zora Neal Hurston's text all began to speak for themselves. The celebration that was Penumbra's homecoming became the celebration of a very good production done very, very well."

SPUNK is a sensuous and witty journey through African American life at the dawn of the 20th century. A rich mixture of storytelling, dance, and the blues, SPUNK is both a celebration of life and a testament to the travails black Americans have endured. A pillar of the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston's voice is lovingly brought to life by award-winning playwright George C. Wolfe.

Zora Neale Hurston was a famed writer known most notably for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. She was also an anthropologist and determined to juxtapose what she recognized as "authentic Negro life" with stereotypical representations in vogue during the 1920s and 1930s. Her mission was to animate representations of black life with the spirit and pride she had seen in her all-black childhood home of Eatonville, Florida. She understood what was at stake, why it was so very important that black people be the authors of their own stories, that black artists be entrusted to authentically render those stories for audiences, and that the value ascribed to these stories would be estimated by the people they depicted. Half a century later, George C. Wolfe picked up the baton carried by his forbearers, and adapted three of Hurston's short stories for the stage.