Crossroads Theatre Company Presents BACK TO THE REAL, A World Premiere

In Back to the Real the audience enters the post 2016 election world of a
brother and sister as they navigate the challenges of racial and sexual identity. Current themes confronting the characters include anti-LGBTQ sentiment, colorism in the African-American community, and hiding our true identity.

With humor and insight, the play explores the complexities of fulfilling our own lives while maintaining the relationships and acceptance of family and houses of worship. Playwright Pia Wilson has expressed that while the play is specifically about an African-American family, Back to the Real has universal themes of identity: what does it mean to be American? What does it mean to be black? "This is a play that is meant to engage us in a different way. The audience is challenged to be a part of the conversation."

Pia Wilson is a 2017 NJPAC Stage Exchange commissioned playwright, 2017 resident with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Process Space program, 2015 Sundance fellow, and a recipient of the 2014 Sarah Verdone Writing Award. She is a 2012-2013 resident with LMCC's Workspace program, a member of the 2008 Emerging Writers Group at The Public Theater, and a 2009 playwriting fellow with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She is also a member of The Passage Theatre Play Lab and a member of the 2009 Project Footlight team of composers and librettists.

Back to the Real will take place at the Mastrobuono Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ from May 11 through May 20. Crossroads Theatre Company is partnering with venues around the state during the construction of the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC) which will open at 9 Livingston Ave. in the fall of 2019.

Crossroads Theatre Company was founded in 1978 by Ricardo Khan and L. Kenneth Richardson with a vision that as actors the two young men could work on substantive non-stereotypical roles. Crossroads has since produced over 250 works, fifty of which were premiere productions by the world's leading artists of color. In recognition of its success Crossroads Theatre Company was the recipient of the prestigious Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in America in 1999.

Tickets: $35 - $55 may be purchased online at www.CrossroadsTheatreCompany.org or by calling 732-545-8100.

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