Crossroads Theatre Company Announces HIGHER GROUND Celebration

The Hub City Jazz Festival and the Friends of Crossroads Theatre Company are partnering to present HIGHER GROUND, a musical celebration and fundraiser. This event will be held Friday March 31 at Crossroads Theatre to celebrate the company's thirty-nine year history of producing high quality work that celebrates the culture, history, spirit and voices of the entire African Diaspora.

HIGHER GROUND will be hosted by Bessie Award nominated tap dancer, entertainer and musician Omar Edwards. Edwards performed the role of the Tap Griot in Fly which premiered at Crossroads Theatre Company and since has been performed at major theaters nationally. A reading of Fly will take place on March 11 at The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture with Omar as the Tap Griot.

HIGHER GROUND musical performers will include SAGE, the all-women's jazz, blues and contemporary ensemble that has opened for and appeared with Ray Charles, Denzel Washington and Regina Carter and many others. International jazz greats Ragan Whiteside (flutist, vocalist, and songwriter) and Jazzmeia Horn, winner of the 2015 Thelonius Monk Institute International Jazz Competition will also be performing. There will also be a special performances by teen phenomenon actress, singer, and dancer Khailah Johnson and our future jazz greats the New Brunswick District Schools Jazz Band.

Honorary Chairpersons for HIGHER GROUND are:

Stephen McKinnley Henderson: original cast member of Crossroads production of Jitney and has performed on Broadway in several August Wilson plays and in the film adaptation of Fences with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis.

Richard Wesley: playwright and screenwriter whose play Autumn received a world premiere at Crossroads during the 2015-2016 Season.

Count Stovall: veteran Broadway actor who performed in five Crossroads Theatre Company productions including Richard Wesley's Autumn.

Nikkole Salter: playwright whose play Repairing a Nation was staged at Crossroads Theatre Company and then recorded at Crossroads for PBS/ Channel 13.

Tickets for HIGHER GROUND are $100 and proceeds will benefit Crossroads Theatre
Company and the New Brunswick School Jazz Band. Purchases may be made at
www.Hubcityjazzfestival.com/higher-ground.

Crossroads Theatre Company was founded in 1978 by Ricardo Khan and L. Kenneth Richardson in New Brunswick, NJ. Crossroads Theatre Company, recipient of the 1999 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in the United States, is the nation's premiere African American Theatre. The American Theatre Critics Association together with the American Theatre Wing and the League of Regional Theatres and Producers presented the prestigious Tony Award to Crossroads in recognition of its then 22-year history of artistic accomplishment and excellence. www.CrossroadsTheatreCompany.org

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