New Federal Theatre Presents COOL BLUES 3/10-4/3

Woodie King Jr's New Federal Theatre will kick off its 40th season by presenting the Off-Broadway premiere of Cool Blues by Bill Harris at their home at Henry Street Settlement's Abrons Arts Center/Recital Hall (466 Grand Street). Performances begin March 10th with Opening Night set for Sunday, March 20th Performances for this limited engagement continue through April 3rd only. Ed Smith directs a cast that features Ezra Barnes, Stephanie Berry, Terria Joseph, Marcus Naylor, Maria Silverman and Jay Ward.

It is 1955. B is a black jazz musician so renowned and innovative that he only needs a single initial to identify him. We join him as he shows up unannounced to spend a fateful weekend in the apartment of, Baroness Alexandra Isabella von Templeton (Xan), one of the world's richest women. His manner and his mood shifts are as mercurial as his music. His talent at deception is as agile as his ability to charm. Questions of loyalty, love, privilege, and friendship are probed as the ghosts of B's past and present demand answers. Xan vows to protect him at all costs, even if it means ignoring the advice of the doctor summoned to attend to him. Does B want to be saved? Can he be? Has he come to recuperate from recent disastrous events in order to soar into the world again, or has the burden of being a cutting edge spirit in the war against conformity and racial prejudice taken its ultimate toll?

B is based on Charlie "Bird" Parker who died on March 12th, 1955 at age 35 in the Baroness's apartment in The Stanhope Hotel. He carved a large piece of jazz history for himself. No other single figure before or since has exerted a greater influence on his contemporaries and on successive generations of musicians. Baroness Zan is based on Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter (born Kathleen Anne Pannonica Rothschild, 1913 - ‘88), a British bebop jazz enthusiast and member of the prominent Rothschild family.