Complete Cast and Creative Team Set for THE COTILLION World Premiere at A.R.T./New York

New Georges and The Movement Theatre Company will present The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents The 84th Annual Star-Burst Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of The Renaissance Hotel (aka The Cotillion) written and directed by Colette Robert (Behind the Sheet). Featuring music and lyrics by Dionne McClain-Freeney (The Movie Star and The Mammy), additional lyrics by Robert, and choreography by nicHi douglas (Weightless), The Cotillion will begin previews May 3, 2023, in the Mezzanine Theater at A.R.T./New York (502 W 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019), with opening night set for May 7, for a run through May 27, 2023.

The cast of The Cotillion will include Caturah Brown (Or, An Astronaut Play), Kayla Coleman (The Tempest), Cherrye J. Davis (How to Mourn an American), Claire Fort (Pride@Prejudice), Starr Kirkland (Crying on Television), Aigner Mizzelle (Chicken & Biscuits), Cristina Pitter (It's Not a Trip It's a Journey), Monique St. Cyr (Spindle Shuttle Needle), Portland Thomas (Shedding Load), Montria Walker (Sistas the Musical), Akyiaa Wilson (Kissing the Floor) and Jehan O. Young (Behind the Sheet).

The Cotillion will feature set design by Teresa L. Williams (Dutchman), costume design by Mika Eubanks (Twelfth Night), lighting design by Stacey Derosier (How to Defend Yourself), sound design by Sadah Espii Proctor (Citrus), hair and wig design by Nikiya Mathis (Death of a Salesman), music direction by Dionne McClain-Freeney, and make-up design by Fatima Thomas, Senior National Artist, M∙A∙C Cosmetics.

It's the Black high society event of the year.

As six high-achieving debutantes interrupt their preparations to peek into the shimmering ballroom, The Harriet Holland Social Club's esteemed Madam President does her damnedest to ensure it all goes well. She needs no stumbles tonight. No teary-eyed smudges, no unraveling lace, no unraveling ANYTHING. Because if she can't control these girls, whatever will they think over at Table 4?

Experienced in real time as a Black debutante ball in a large American city today-and featuring an all-Black-women company and creative team, down to its three-piece band-The Cotillion interrogates the complexities of Black debutante ball culture and finds that beneath all the respectability politics and sweet serenades lie contradictions even quality make-up can't cover up. It puts us all in our evening shoes-ya know, those fancy ones that start to pinch as the night wears on-to ask how we choose to uplift young Black women in a world that seeks to diminish them.

The product of a close 5-year collaboration between New Georges and The Movement Theatre Company, The Cotillion has received the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award and additional funding and development support from: NYC Women's Fund for Media, Music and Theatre; BOLD Ventures; The Edith Lutyens and Norman Bel Geddes Design Enhancement Fund; New Georges Audrey Residency; Mabou Mines' Resident Artist Program; Fuller Road Artist Residency; The Drama League's Beatrice Terry Residency for Women+ Writer/Directors; New York State Council on the Arts; and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The performance schedule for The Cotillion will be as follows: Wednesday-Saturday at 7:30pm; Saturday at 2pm; Sunday at 5pm. Exceptions: there will be no 2pm performance on Saturday May 6, and no 7:30pm performance on Saturday May 27. There will be additional performances on Tuesday May 23 at 7:30pm and Friday May 26 at 2pm.

Tickets for The Cotillion begin at $30 and are available at newgeorges.ticketspice.com/the-cotillion.

At New Georges, we advocate for an intergenerational ecosystem of exuberant theatrical minds, furthering fierce new works along with long-term wellbeing, expanding aesthetic boundaries and gender equity in tandem. Since 1992, we have imagined a new kind of artistic home-a relaxed, participatory culture and a productive oasis in a competitive field. New Georges' focus is on women (cis and trans) and nonbinary artists. Founded in the wake of the Anita Hill hearings on the proposition that producing women is a political act, our practices are inherently non-patriarchal and intersectional. New Georges' responsive, open-ended play and artist development programs include The Room, our permanent workspace, founded in 1994. They serve New Georges' affiliated artists, the largest ongoing working community of women+ theater artists in New York City (290 strong).

As a pivotal home and launchpad for now two generations of artists, our impact reaches every corner of the culture. Premieres of more than 100 new works include first, early, or transformative productions for Marielle Heller, Heidi Schreck, Diana Son, Anne Kauffman, Eisa Davis, Lee Sunday Evans, Lisa D'Amour, Tracey Scott Wilson, Sheila Callaghan, Carson Kreitzer, Tamilla Woodard, Daniella Topol, Cusi Cram and Kate Benson. For Rachel Chavkin, Charise Castro Smith, Lucy Alibar, Haruna Lee, Jen Silverman, Anna Ziegler and many more, we have been an early artistic home.

Honors for New Georges, its plays and its people include The National Theatre Conference's Outstanding Theatre Award, 3 Obie Awards, The Lilly Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn and Kesselring prizes. For more information visit www.newgeorges.org or follow New Georges on Facebook at "New Georges" and on Twitter and Instagram @NewGeorges.

The Movement Theatre Company creates an artistic social movement by developing and producing herculean new work by artists of color. Under the leadership of Deadria Harrington, Eric Lockley, Ryan Dobrin, and David Mendizábal, their work engages multicultural audiences in a rich theatrical dialogue, enlightens communities to the important issues affecting our world, and empowers artists to celebrate the many sides of their unique voice. Founded in 2007, The Movement has established itself as an artistic staple in New York theatre, championed by community and acclaimed by the industry (OBIE Award Winner, Drama Desk and Drama League Award nominee). As an organization run by producers of color, The Movement is passionate about shifting the status quo of American Theatre both on-stage and behind the scenes. Past productions include: What to Send Up When It Goes Down by Aleshea Harris, directed by Whitney White (NY Premiere and Northeast Tour, 2018 - 2021); 1MOVE: DES19NED BY... (2020); Harrison David Rivers' And She Would Stand Like This (2016) choreographed by Kia LaBeija, and Look Upon Our Lowliness (2014), both directed by David Mendizábal; Bintou by Koffi Kwahulé, translated by Chantal Bilodeau, directed by David Mendizábal (2010); and Hope Speaks devised and directed by Jonathan McCrory (2008). Over their 15-year history they've featured work by Dominique Morriseau, Christina Anderson, Colman Domingo, Danielle Brooks, Xosha Roquemore, Joél Pérez, Jesca Prudencio, Jonathan McCrory, Ebony Golden, Taylor Reynolds, Rebecca Martinez and many more! For additional info on The Movement visit www.themovementtheatrecompany.org or follow The Movement on Facebook at "The Movement Theatre Company" and on Twitter and Instagram @TMTCHarlem.

BIOS

Colette Robert

(Playwright and Director) directed the world premieres of Stew by Zora Howard, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize now being produced around the country, at Page 73; New York Times Critic's Pick Behind the Sheet by Charly Evon Simpson at Ensemble Studio Theatre, where she is a member; and the recent revival of Crumbs From the Table of Joy by Lynn Nottage. Regional credits include City Theatre Company, Penumbra Theatre, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Colette is an alumnus of The New Georges Jam (co-leader), The Drama League's Beatrice Terry Residency, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and The Public Theater's Van Lier Directing Fellowship. The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents The 84th Annual Star-Burst Cotillion in The Grand Ballroom of The Renaissance Hotel, generated in New Georges' Audrey Residency and Mabou Mines Resident Artist programs, is her first play. She is the 2023 SDCF Denham Fellow.

Dionne McClain-Freeney

(Composer). Composer: The Movie Star & The Mammy (Joe's Pub), The Sugar Hill Sisters (NYMF). Composer & Lyricist: "Not So Fair-y Tales," "The Beautiful Son," Rainbow Lullaby (Broadway Records), Rice & Rocks (Brooklyn Children's Theatre), Going Home: Movement of Voices (N.Y. Philharmonic's New World Initiative), This One Girl's Story (NC A&T, NYMF, Gayfest, GLAAD Media Award nominee). Music direction: Sweeney Todd (UNCSA), The Color Purple (Cape Fear Regional Theatre), Passing Strange (UNCSA), "Queering The Canon: Kander & Ebb" (Ring of Keys), Brecht on Brecht (Off-Broadway), Spiritual Uprising (People's Light & Theatre), Black Queens Screen Test (The Tank), "Turn The Volume Up!- Amplifying Black Keys" (Ring of Keys), For Colored Girls (Public Theatre), The Addams Family, Shrek, Beauty and The Beast (Piper Theatre), The Fourth Wall (Off-Broadway). Bring The Beat Back (Polyphone Theatre Festival). BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop & Steering Committee. TGBTG!

nicHi douglas

(Choreographer) is a Brooklyn-based artist, educator, organizer and 2021 Princess Grace Award winner. they have developed original theater work at The Public Theater, Roundabout Theatre, New Victory, Long Wharf, Pig Iron, Denver Center, and Berkeley Rep, among others. nicHi has been commissioned by Mimi Lien & Itohan Edoloyi to create a social sculpture on Lincoln Center's campus this Summer 2023. Ars Nova + National Black Theatre will co-produce nicHi's commission, (pray), in Fall 2023. Recent work (choreographer and associate choreographer): Weightless (WP Theater), SKiNFoLK: AN AMERICAN SHOW (Bushwick Starr + NBT), Girl From The North Country (The Public Theater), Last Stop On Market Street (Atlantic Theater). nicHi teaches at NYU/Tisch and guest lectures at Yale School of Drama. upcoming: (pray) (National Black Theatre + Ars Nova, Playwright/Director/Choreographer - co-composed by S T A R R Busby, JJJJJerome Ellis and Tariq Al-Sabir) | www.mynameisnichi.com