Two River Theater Company Presents THE FULA FROM AMERICA

Based on Carlyle Brown's own travels in West Africa, The Fula from America is the story of one African-American's search for an African identity. Set in 1981, the traveler sets off on a journey that takes him to Senegal, Mali, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Sierra Leone. From deep in the bush to the corridors of the African elite, he discovers friendship, generosity, poverty, wondrous beauty and civil war. As his adventures unfold, he finds himself on the boundary of the African-American hyphen where the question arises: how much of him is African and how much is American?

Touring the country, The Fula From America has been critically acclaimed for its blend of humor and passion, cited as "rich, honest, charismatic" (Star Tribune) and "a real tour-de-force" (Variety).

Associate Artistic Director KJ Sanchez had this to say: "We're unbelievably lucky to have Carlyle Brown on our stage. He is one of the country's best solo performers, having performed all over the world. The Fula From America is Carlyle's remarkable and very personal recounting of a trip to West Africa, and his coming to terms with his African identity, but it will strike a profound chord in anyone who has traveled abroad and learned that to much of the world, we are often less defined by skin color, class or culture, but as Americans."

The Fula from America is at Two River Theater Co. on a limited engagement run from Friday, February 26 to Sunday, February 28.

Carlyle Brown is a writer/performer and artistic director of Carlyle Brown & Company based in Minneapolis, which has produced The Masks of Othello: A Theatrical Essay, The Fula From America: An African Journey, and Talking Masks. He has received commissions from Arena Stage, the Houston Grand Opera, The Children's Theatre Company, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and The Goodman Theater, among others. He is recipient of playwriting fellowships from NYFA, NEA, McKnight Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board, Jerome Foundation, TCG and the Pew Charitable Trust. MR. Brown has been artist-in-residence as well as a teacher of expository writing at New York University; African-American literature at the University of Minnesota; playwriting at Ohio State University and Antioch College; African American theater and dramatic literature at Carlton College as the Benedict Distinguished Visiting Artist, and "Creation and Collaboration" at the University of Minnesota Theater Department. He has worked as a museum exhibit writer and story consultant for the Charles Wright Museum of African American History and the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage. MR. Brown is a core member at Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, an alumnus of New Dramatists in New York, and a member of the Dramatists Guild. He is on the board of directors of The Playwrights' Center, TCG, and the Jerome Foundation. He is a member of the Charleston Jazz Initiative Circle at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture at the College of Charleston in South Carolina where his works and papers are archived. He is the 2006 recipient of The Black Theatre Network's Winona Lee Fletcher Award for outstanding achievement and artistic excellence and a 2008 Guggenheim Fellow.

The Fula from America is scheduled to run Friday, February 26 at 10am (student matinee), at 8pm, Saturday, February 27 at 8pm, and Sunday, February 28 at 3pm. Tickets are $20. Get more information online at www.trtc.org, call 732.345.1400, or visit the Two River Theater Company Box Office in Red Bank, located at 21 Bridge Avenue. Box Office Hours: Monday-Saturday: 10am-6pm; Sunday: 12pm-5pm.

TRTC is accessible to people with disabilities, including wheelchair accessibility, assistive listening devices and large print programs at every performance. Accessible seating is available by reservation. For more information call the Box Office at 732.345.1400.

 

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