Crossroads Theatre's Legacy Month to Continue with Staged Reading of Nikkole Salter's REPAIRING A NATION, 2/16

The program will begin with a reception with the author at noon, followed by the reading at 2 p.m. at the theater located at 7 Livingston Ave. Tickets are $75 for the reception and staged reading, or $25 for the play only. The event is a fundraiser for the theater.

Repairing a Nation is the story of a contemporary Oklahoma family torn apart by pressure from one of its members to seek reparations for the Tulsa race riot of 1921, which has been called the worst incident of racial violence in American history.

The reading will feature actors Ami Brabson and Landon Woodson. Woodson appeared at Crossroads last season in Walter Mosley's White Lilies.

Salter completed Repairing a Nation as a part of NYU's 2012-13 Writer's Roundtable The play will receive its full world premiere production during Crossroads' 2014-15 season. An actor as well as playwright, Salter won an Obie Award in 2006 for In the Continuum, a play she acted in and co-wrote. The play also won the New York Outer Critics Circle's John Gassner Award for Best New American Play that year, among other awards. She is an associate teaching artist with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and Almasi Arts, and is founder and executive director of The Continuum Project, Inc., a nonprofit organization that creates innovative artistic programming for community empowerment and enrichment.

"Nikkole Salter is a truly gifted writer who immerses herself in subjects and distills them in such a way as to uncover a unique and compelling story," said Crossroads' Producing Artistic Director Marshall Jones III. "In Repairing a Nation, she grabs the controversial subject of reparations for African-Americans and, cleverly using metaphors as well as recognizable characters, conducts this fierce debate in a compelling manner."

The event also is part of the "History and Horizons" series of the RWJ (Robert Wood Johnson) Black Professionals Network commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The next event in the Legacy Month series will be Richard Wesley's Playbook, a celebration of the writer and his work in performances, video and testimonials. The event takes place on Sunday, March 2, beginning with a reception at noon, followed by the stage program at 2 p.m.

For more information about the events, go to crossroadstheatrecompany.org or call 732-545-8100.