Brick Theater Inc. Presents BIRD OF PRAY

Brick Theater Inc. presents Bird of Pray, a 60-minute play by Darrel Alejandro Holnes with movement by Jonathan Gonzalez and directed by Mimi Barcomi as part of its Festival of Lies. Bird of Pray presents an explosive new perspective on Black, gay soldiers in the military and Don't Ask Don't Tell from one of the freshest voices in downtown and Brooklyn theater.

Bird of Pray - Shaquille's attempt at suicide is disrupted when Jem, the ghost of a fellow soldier killed for being gay, suddenly appears and makes a proposition: Shaquille must share his body with Jem's soul instead of sacrificing it to the vultures in exchange for absolution. With an impending hurricane forcing his hand, Shaquille must quickly choose between saving a fellow soldier he failed to save at war or escaping his worldly problems by starting over in the afterlife.

This theatrical journey into PTSD explores the hidden corners of American history and the legacy of Don't Ask Don't Tell through magical realism, dialogue, and dance.

Bird of Pray is the first chapter in Holnes' Sandstorm Cycle, a series of plays based on Holnes' interviews with African American veterans of recent US wars in the Middle East and elsewhere abroad.

Mimi Barcomi directs this dynamic festival premiere with movement by Jonathan González. The play is produced by Margaret Champagne and features Cornelius Davidson in the role of Shaquille and Devante Lewis in the role of Jem. The play was developed in residency at The Collective NY with the support of the Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation and various private donors. Nat DiMario is the production stage manager.

More About Director, Mimi Barcomi

Mimi Barcomi is a director, theater artist, and musician from New York City whose artistic goals include radical re-envisionings of traditional texts, creating theater from unusual source materials, multilingual theater, and exploring technology and multimedia in live performance. Mimi's work has been featured at Edinburgh Fringe, New York Fringe, La Mama Theater, Dixon Place, and more. Mimi is also a violinist and works in theater production. Education: BA, the New School. Directors Lab North alum & Lincoln Center Directors Lab member. mxbarcomi.com

More About Movement Director, Jonathan González

Jonathan González ambulates between the roles of performer, educator, and choreographer - initiating questions through the body alongside composing sound, design, and text for performance. Works have been presented among others by BAX/Helix Queer Performance Network, New York Live Arts, Center for Performance Research, La MaMa, and Danspace Project. A CUNY faculty member, artist-organizer with WoW/Works On Water, previous curator for Knockdown Center's Sunday Service, and co-curator for Movement Research's Fall Festival invisible material. Diebold Awardee for Distinction in Choreography & Performance; POSSE Scholar (Trinity College); Bessie Schonberg Scholar (Sarah Lawrence College/MFA). Jonathan is based in their hometown of Queens, NY.

More About Playwright, Darrel Alejandro Holnes

Darrel Alejandro Holnes is a poet, playwright, and director from Panamá City, Panamá, and the former Panamá Canal Zone. He is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, the Musical Theatre Factory's POC Roundtable, the Stillwater Writers Workshop, and Page 73's Interstate 73 Writers' Group. His play BIRD OF PRAY was a recent finalist for the Princess Grace Award, and his play STARRY NIGHT was a recent finalist for the 2018 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, the Van Lier Fellowship from The Lark Play Development Center, and the 2050 Fellowship in Playwriting at NYTW. His other plays have been developed with the generous support of the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the Kitchen Theater Company, National Black Theater, the Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation, and the Collective NY. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and Playwriting at Medgar Evers College and he teaches playwriting at New York University. darrelholnes.com