The Theater Project Presents Reading Of BLACK LIVES/BLUE LIVES

Union-based professional company The Theater Project will take on one of the most controversial issues of the day with a staged reading of Black Lives / Blue Lives, an original pair of one-acts exploring each side of the police/race dynamic responsible for so many front-page tragedies in recent years. The reading/ discussion will be presented at the Cranford Community Center on Wednesday, November 13, at 7:00 p.m.

"The hope here is to begin a constructive discussion," said Mark Spina, producing director for The Theater Project. "The issue is so painful and so complicated that it is tempting to turn away if you are not directly affected. Using theater, we hope to create a safe space to take a closer look and discuss how and why these tragedies occur."

Black Lives / Blue Lives consists of two short one-man one-act plays starring, respectively, Lambert Tamin and Gary Martins under the direction of Will Budnikov.

Black Lives was written by Los Angeles-based writer Stephen Harper whose credits include the ABC series American Crime, TNT drama Tell Me Your Secrets, USA Network's Covert Affairs, and his original web series Send Me which garnered an Emmy nomination for series star Tracie Thoms.

Blue Lives was adapted from Adam Plantinga's acclaimed non-fiction book, 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman, by New Jersey author, playwright and screenwriter Bill Mesce, Jr. Mesce's credits include uncredited work on Brian DePalma's political thriller Blow Out, his award-winning trilogy of WW II novels, and his play A Jersey Cantata, named by The Star-Ledger as one of the best original plays when it premiered. His most recent work is the just-published The Wild Bunch: The American Classic that Changed Westerns Forever.

"Assessing blame is easy," said Mesce. "Trying to find an antidote to these heartbreaks is the hard part, and what all of us involved with this project hope is that Black Lives / Blue Lives might become a useful tool that raises awareness and starts discussion among people who might otherwise be tempted to ignore the problem."