Ars Nova & National Black Theatre to Present World Premiere of (PRAY), A SACRED OFFERING by nicHi douglas

Ars Nova and National Black Theatre will present the world premiere of (pray), a sacred offering created by nicHi douglas with music by S T A R R Busby & JJJJJerome Ellis. Directed & choreographed by douglas, (pray) runs September 23–October 28, 2023, at Ars Nova @ Greenwich House (27 Barrow Street, Manhattan) with a press opening on October 9. Tickets are now on sale at www.arsnovanyc.com/pray/.
 

A congregation comes to power in nicHi douglas’ (pray). Through music, movement, and human connection, (pray) celebrates and reckons with the complexity of spiritual inheritance, summoning the curiosity, anger, confusion, and bliss that transcends generations of Black womxn across the African diaspora. Channeling the joy and vitality of a Sunday Baptist Church service through a surreal and Afrofuturist lens, (pray) serves as an invitation to examine one’s own spiritual practices and holds space to inspire human transformation through the liberation of the Black feminine divine.

The cast for (pray) includes Ariel Kayla Blackwood, S T A R R Busby, Ashley De La Rosa, Tina Fabrique, Satori Folkes-Stone, Amara Granderson, Taylor Symone Jackson, Ziiomi Louise Law, Aigner Mizzelle, Gayle Turner, Darnell White, and D. Woods.

The creative team for (pray) includes S T A R R Busby (music director), dots (set design) DeShon Elem (costume design), Cha See (lighting design), Mikaal Sulaiman (sound design), Noah Mease (props design), Jadele McPherson (dramaturgy), The Telsey Office / Destiny Lilly, CSA (casting), Belynda M'Baye (production stage manager), and Keyana Hemphill (assistant stage manager). Additional creative team members include Nikiya Mathis (wig & hair design), Talia Paulette Oliveras (associate director), Michelle Cole (associate choreographer), Terran Scott (associate music director), Colleen Murray(assistant set design), Julia Squier (assistant costume design), Taylor Lilly (assistant lighting design), Germán Martínez (associate sound design), and Danielle Waugh (make up design).

“I've had the privilege of witnessing nicHi douglas's extraordinary talent for over a decade now, " said Jason Eagan, Ars Nova’s Founding Artistic Director. “What began as an idea she was exploring in our Makers Lab program back in 2017, has become a vibrant evening of theater. Throughout the pandemic, we've never lost hope it would happen but to finally be in production is a real blessing. We're grateful to nicHi, S T A R R, JJJJJerome and our friends at National Black Theatre for staying on the ride. We can’t wait for audiences to experience the power of it all first-hand this September.”

"What nicHi has created in (pray) is for all of us to reckon with, to surrender to, to truly embrace." said Jonathan McCrory, Artistic Director of National Black Theatre. "She has created an Afro-futuristic destination for Black femmes to embrace their liberation, which in-turn welcomes humanity to be transformed, and bloom into our collective possibility. Drawing on the power of an ensemble-driven theatrical work, it is humbling to see this cast be assembled to embody the world nicHi has penned, directed and choreographed for us to move through. We're looking forward to having audiences join them on this soulful powerful journey to see these dynamic artists explode on the stage."

Performances of (pray) will take place September 23–October 28, 2023, at Ars Nova @ Greenwich House, located at 27 Barrow Street in Manhattan. Critics are welcome as of Wednesday, October 4, for a press opening on Monday, October 9. Performances take place Monday–Saturday at 7pm with additional performances on Saturday at 2pm starting October 14. The anticipated running time is 75 minutes with no intermission.

 Tickets to (pray) are Name Your Price, which start at $5 for the first week of performances, $15 for the second week of performances, $25 for the third week of performances and $35 for performances thereafter. All tickets are general admission and can be purchased at are currently on sale at www.arsnovanyc.com/pray/.

Please visit www.arsnovanyc.com/pray/ for more information.

About the (pray) Creative Team
 

nicHi douglas is a Brooklyn-based artist, educator, activist, and 2021 Princess Grace Award winner. you can refer to her/him/them/us using any pronoun said with Respect. nicHi's work can be characterized by a dogged interest in building community in the process of creating performance. as such, our work is multigenerational, developing theater with/for folx ages 2-82. we have developed original theater work at The Public Theater, Roundabout Theatre Company, New Victory, Lincoln Center, Long Wharf, Pig Iron, Denver Center, and Berkeley Rep, among others. they have created interactive dance exhibits for the National Museum of African-American Music and the New York Hall of Science. nicHi’s mutual aid fund, nicHi’s SuSu, launched in 2020 and has raised over $18K for Black artists. nicHi is an Assistant Professor of Movement in the Experimental Theater Wing at Tisch School of the Arts. she has also guest lectured at Yale School of Drama. stage credits: Girl From the North Country (Public Theater, Associate Choreographer), SKiNFoLK: An American Show (NYT Critic’s Pick//The Bushwick Starr/National Black Theatre, Choreographer), Weightless (WP Theater, Choreographer), ...The Cotillion (The Movement Theatre Company/New Georges, Choreographer) | www.mynameisnichi.com

S T A R R Busby (they/she/he/we) is a Black experimental artist who sings, acts, composes, educates, and is committed to the liberation of all people. S T A R R leads a music project under their name which will release a debut album in 2024. She is the lead singer of dance band People’s Champs (www.peopleschamps.com). S T A R R  has also supported and collaborated with artists such as The Gorillaz, Esperanza Spalding, X Ambassadors, Kimbra, Alice Smith, and Quelle Chris. Selected credits: The Beautiful Lady (La Mama, Boris); On Sugarland (NYTW, co-composer); Octet (Signature Theatre, Paula) *Drama Desk Award Winner; Mikrokosmos, Sterischer Herbst (Graz), Nottingham Contemporary; The Girl with the Incredible Feeling, Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi. Love, gratitude, and ashé to my blessed honorable ancestors, especially MME.

JJJJJerome Ellis is an animal, stutterer, and artist. He was raised by Jamaican and Grenadian immigrants in Tidewater, VA, where he prays, gardens, and resides among the egrets and asters. Through music, literature, performance, and video he researches relationships among blackness, disabled speech, divinity, nature, sound, and time. He dreams of building a sonic bath house!

dots is a design collective based in New York City specializing in designing environments for narratives, experiences and performances. Hailing from Colombia, South Africa and Japan, we are Santiago Orjuela-Laverde,  Andrew Moerdyk & Kimie Nishikawa. We approach every project with diversity of thought and burning curiosity, and above all, we believe in the value of the whole being greater than the sum of its individual parts. www.designbydots.com
 

DeShon Elem is an Afrofuturist/Afrosurrealist artist and designer from The Bronx, by way of Harlem. Her design career has been centered around working on shows that highlight and uplift Black stories and voices. Broadway: Associate Costume Designer Pass Over, For Colored Girls, Fat Ham Off-Broadway: This Land Was Made ( The Vineyard Theatre), The Gospel Woman workshop (National Black Theatre) Film: The Roll Call: The Roots To Strange Fruit (All Arts & National Black Theatre).

Cha See is a lighting designer from Manila, Philippines and based in NYC. Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel and Obie award grantee. Off-Broadway credits include You Will Get Sick (Roundabout Theatre Company), The Seagull/Woodstock, NY, One in Two (The New Group), Wet Brain (Playwrights Horizons), The Fever, Lucy (Audible Theater), Exception to the Rule (Roundabout Underground), What to Send Up When It Goes Down (Playwrights Horizons, BAM), Soft (MCC), As You Like It (La Jolla Playhouse), among others. Cha's designs will soon be featured in Babbitt (La Jolla Playhouse), Covenant (Roundabout Theatre Company), and Is It Thursday Yet? (Perelman Center). Cha received her M.F.A. from NYU Tisch. seelightingdesign.com
 

Mikaal Sulaiman Broadway: Thanksgiving Play, Fat Ham, Death of a Salesman, Cost of Living, Macbeth, Thoughts of a Colored Man. Off-Broadway: The Half-God of Rainfall (NYTW), Primary Trust (Roundabout), Des Moines (TFANA), Sanctuary City (NYTW), Fairview (Soho Rep), Rags Parkland (Ars Nova), Underground Railroad Game (Ars Nova). Recipient: Obie Award, Creative Capital Award, Henry Hewes Award, and CTG Sherwood Award. www.mikaal.com

Noah Mease is a theater-maker, writer & cartoonist. (pray) is his 8th production at Ars Nova; other props work includes Infinite Life (Atlantic, National Theatre), Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (“Kazino,” A.R.T, Broadway), Oklahoma! (St. Ann’s, Broadway), Hadestown (NYTW), An Octoroon(Soho Rep., TFANA), and John (Signature - OBIE Award). Alumnus of Ars Nova’s Play Group. Ongoing comics at www.namelessmage.com

Jadele McPherson is an artist-scholar currently in residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.  McPherson founded Lukumi Arts in 2008, an Afro-Cuban arts experimental theater company. In 2021 McPherson produced the Afro-Latinx artist series: Mind, Body & Soul, and also performed in Yoruba Soy with Pedrito Martinez at Carnegie Hall; Rebirthing Yemaya by Beatrice Capote and Wake Up: Liberation Call at Dawn with Abigail DeVille at the Hirshhorn Museum.
 

The Telsey Office/ Destiny Lilly, CSA With offices in both New York and Los Angeles, The Telsey Office casts for theater, film, television, and commercials. The Telsey Office is dedicated to creating safe, equitable, and anti-racist spaces through collaboration, artistry, heart, accountability, and advocacy.

Belynda M’Baye: Being of service to new plays and supporting artists brings me joy to my soul. I have been blessed to have supported as Production Stage Manager ( to list a few),@ National Black Theatre -  The Gospel Woman, The Peculiar Patriot,  The First Deep Breath, , Crowndation, Serious Adverse Effects, Blood, Sweet, Manhood, Un-Tamed, Zoohouse, Hands Up, Master ( Foundry Theater)   Hands Up, Rain Pryor’s Fried Chicken & Latkes, Waterboy @ Bushwick Starr.  A Drop of Midnight ( Sweden Tour) Apollo Theater, Festivals: 48 Hours in Harlem9, New Black Fest, The Lark,, NYMF  2017, NAMT 2017,  Now Africa Playwrights Festival. NBTF (Winston Salem, NC:  Foundry Theatre, Crossroads Theatre, American Bard Theatre,  Lincoln Center Education. Belynda  is the I Am Soul Residency Program Manager at National Black Theatre.

Keyana Hemphill is a multi-hyphenate artist who is thrilled to be working with this brilliant team! BFA: NYU Tisch ‘17. Off Broadway: The Cotillion (ASM, New Georges/The Movement Theater Company). Other theatre credits include Uncle Vanya (SM, O’Henry Productions); In the Name of the Mother Tree (ASM, DoubleEdge Theatre in assoc. w/ National Black Theatre and the Apollo Theater); Definition (SM, Mercury Store); where love lies fallow (ASM, The Shed, The Public).

About the (pray) cast

Ariel Kayla Blackwood’s Off-Broadway credits include 125th and Freedom (National Black Theatre) and new R&B Off-Broadway musical Love In A Different Key album out now on all streaming platforms. Regional: Hair (Berkshire Theater Group), The Colored Museum (LaLa), In the Heights (Vanessa u/s). Ariel is a proud member of 'The Dance Cartel' company and currently working on her solo career as a recording artist. She looks forward to performing at the Black Girls Rock Fest early 2024. She is currently seeking legit representation.

Amara Granderson is a Brooklyn native and multidisciplinary artist. Select credits: Broadway: for colored girls... (Tony-nominated, "Lady in Orange.") Off-Broadway: Romeo 'n' Juliet (Classical Theatre of Harlem, "Ensemble.") Regional: A Midsummer Night's Dream in Harlem ("Lysandra," Pittsburgh Public Theater,) Fly (La Jolla Playhouse, "Ensemble.") Awards: Chita Rivera, The Antonyo's (Best Ensemble, for colored girls...)

Ashley De La Rosa Ars Nova & National Black Theatre debut! Broadway: Mean Girls, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. National Tours: Hamilton: An American Musical, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, RENT. Television: Dear Edward (Apple TV+), The Other Two (HBO). Her original music is available for streaming on all digital music platforms.

Tina Fabrique was seen most recently in Mary Seacole at Washington DC’s Mosaic Theater and in The Most Happy in Concert at the Williamstown Theater Festival this past season. Broadway/New York/ Nat’l Tour credits include How to Succeed Without Really Trying - Bring In Da Noise Bring in Da Funk -Gospel At Colonus - Ragtime - 70 Girls 70 - Dessa Rose - ELLA - Truly Blessed - The Wiz - Crowns - Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope etc. TV/Film: Blue Bloods - New Amsterdam - The Last OG - God Friended Me - Boys in the Band - Sings theme to “Reading Rainbow”

From Los Angeles, Satori Folkes-Stone is an inaugural alumna of the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. She was cast in Ivo van Hove’s 2020 revival of West Side Story just before her graduation. Film to stage she has worked closely with Zachary Woodlee, d. Sabela grimes, William Forsythe, Karla Puno Garcia, Stephanie Klemons and Amy O’Neal. Satori is an improviser, dancemaker, and writer— jazzed to be joining the cast of (pray).

Aigner Mizzelle is a NYC based multi-faceted artist. Since earning her BFA from NYU Tisch, Aigner has made appearances in Ars Nova’s ANT Fest, The Public’s Under The Radar Festival, The Prelude Arts Festival, and Circle in the Square. nicHi douglas’ (pray) is a piece quite dear to Aigner’s heart as she has had the honor of being a part of its development since 2018. Thank you, nicHi for your commitment to your craft and for your unyielding advocacy for your collaborators.

Ziiomi Louise Law is a professional dancer & performer, arts administrative careworker, community consultant, and death doula nomadically based nowhere & working everywhere. They are a Blackqueer, non-binary, multihyphenate who sweats possibility & oozes pleasure. Zii is an embodied Et Cetera, period! They are most fulfilled when collaborating on projects that feel like soul food. Ziiomi believes if it ain’t a full body YES, it’s a no! You can find them luxuriating at the intersections of both/and. Ziiomilaw.com

Gayle Turner (She/Her) is thrilled to be a part of the Premiere Cast of (pray) with nicHi douglas and S T A R R Busby. Performing Credits include the NYSAF Summer season 2022 at Marist College with Playwright Keenan Scott II (Broadway's Thoughts of a Colored Man) and Director Steve Broadnax III in The Return of Young Boy, First Noel, Langston in Harlem, Having Our Say/Delaney Sisters, Spunk, Once on This Island, Constant Star/Ida B Wells. Member of the Honorary Tony Awarded Broadway Inspirational Voices Gospel Choir and a Graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts/NY.

A noted staple in New York City’s music scene, Darnell White has developed a pristine reputation as a performer, composer, and musical director. As an MD he has collaborated with a number of noted artists including Melba Moore, Brian McKnight, Blaine Krauss, Amma Ossei, Willis White, Angela Birchett, David LaMarr, Carlton Jumel Smith and many more! Darnell recently served as Musical Director for the off-Broadway show Revelation The Musical as well as the film adaptation of Gospel at Colonus (premiering November 2020). He is currently the MD for a few churches in the New York area and the chorusmaster for Trilogy: An Opera Company in Newark, NJ!  Darnell is highly recognized as one of New York City’s top vocal coaches and is always accepting new talent into his studio.

Taylor Symone Jackson (She/Her): Is an artist from Atlanta, Ga and is ecstatic about making her National Black Theatre and Ars Nova debut! Broadway: Ain't Too Proud.  Regional: Ain't Too Proud (Berkeley Rep), The Wiz (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). TV: "Born To Dance" "My Parents My Sister and Me" "The Game."

D. Woods is a founding member of the multi-platinum pop/r&b group Danity Kane. Recently, D. Woods presented the world premiere of her semi-autobiographical, One-Woman show, MY FAVORITE COLOR: Trouble In Paradise in Atlanta Ga. Her Film/TV/and Theater credits include Holla If Ya Hear Medirected by Kenny Leon, Christopher Green’s Prurience at The Guggenheim Museum, the acclaimed film Blackbird directed by Patrick Ian-Polk, the ALLBLCK streaming network series Stuck With You, Tales on BET Network, Harlem (Amazon Prime) the Off Broadway and Broadway revival of for colored girls…,Marcus Gardley’s Black Odyssey, directed by Stevie Walker-Webb Off Broadway. Follow D. Woods @yagirldwoods on all social media her official website www.missdwoods.com."

About Ars Nova
 

Ars Nova exists to discover, develop, and launch singular theater, music and comedy artists in the early stages of their professional careers. Our dynamic slate of programs supports outside-the-box thinking and encourages innovative, genre-bending new work. Dubbed by The New York Times as a “fertile incubator of offbeat theater,” Ars Nova blurs genres and subverts the status quo. With our feverish bounty of programming, we are the stomping ground and launching pad for visionary, adventurous artists of all stripes. By providing a protective environment where risk-taking and collaboration are paramount, Ars Nova amplifies the voices of a new generation of diverse artists and audiences, pushing the boundaries of live entertainment by nurturing creative ideas into smart, surprising new work.

Ars Nova has been honored with an Obie Award and a Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics’ Circle for sustained quality and commitment to the development and production of new work. Notable past productions include: three-time Lortel Award-winner Oratorio for Living Things by Heather Christian, directed by Lee Sunday Evans; “Outstanding Musical” Lortel Award-winner and The New York Times’ “Best of 2018,” Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future, created by Andrew R. Butler, directed by Jordan Fein; The Lucky Ones, created by The Bengsons and Sarah Gancher, directed by Anne Kauffman; “Outstanding Musical” Lortel Award-winner KPOP, created by Jason Kim, Max Vernon, Helen Park, and Woodshed Collective, directed by Teddy Bergman; “Best New American Theatre Work,” Obie Award-winner and “one of the best new plays in the last 25 years” (The New York Times), Underground Railroad Game by Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard, directed by Taibi Magar ; The New York Times’ and New York Post’s “Best of 2015,” Small Mouth Sounds by Bess Wohl, directed by Rachel Chavkin; the Tony Award-winning smash-hit Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 by Dave Malloy, directed by Rachel Chavkin; the world premiere of the 2009 season’s most-produced play boom by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, directed by Alex Timbers; the show that put Bridget Everett on the map, At Least It’s Pink by Everett, Michael Patrick King, and Kenny Mellman, directed by King; and Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail’s first New York production, Freestyle Love Supreme by Anthony Veneziale and Miranda, directed by Thomas Kail (Broadway 2019).

Please visit arsnovanyc.com to learn more.

About National Black Theatre

National Black Theatre (NBT) is a Tony and Emmy Award-nominated institution founded in 1968 by the late visionary artist Dr. Barbara Ann Teer. The nation’s first revenue-generating Black arts complex, NBT is the longest-running Black theatre in New York City, one of the oldest theatres founded and consistently operated by a woman of color in the nation, and has been included in the permanent collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. NBT’s core mission is to produce transformational theatre that helps to shift the inaccuracies around African Americans’ cultural identity by telling authentic stories of Black lives. As an alternative learning environment, NBT uses theatre arts as a means to educate, enrich, entertain, empower and inform the national conscience around current social issues impacting our communities. Under the leadership of Sade Lythcott, CEO, and Jonathan McCrory, Executive Artistic Director, NBT helps re-shape a more inclusive American theatre field by providing an artistically rigorous and culturally sensitive space for artists of color to experiment, develop and present new work. Working with trailblazing artists from Nona Hendrix to Jeremy O. Harris; helping to launch the careers, most recently, of artists such as Dominique Morisseau, Radha Blank, Mfoniso Udofia, Saheem Ali, Lee Edward Colston II, and Ebony Noelle Golden; and incubating Obie Award-winning companies like The Movement Theatre Company and Harlem9’s 48Hours in Harlem, NBT’s cultural production remains unparalleled. Located in the heart of Harlem, NBT is embarking on a historic major capital redevelopment project that will transform the current property into a 21st-century destination for Black culture through theatre. NBT welcomes more than 90,000 visitors annually; has produced 300+ original works; won 2 Obie awards and 58 AUDELCO Awards; received a CEBA Award of Merit; and has been nominated for multiple Drama Desk awards. NBT is supported by grants from Booth Ferris Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Ford Foundation, New York Community Trust, Shubert Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation, City Council of New York, City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and private donations. Visit nationalblacktheatre.org or follow NBT on Facebook (@NationalBlackTheatre) and Twitter/Instagram (@NatBlackTheatre).

 

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