National Black Theatre Announces The I AM SOUL Workshop Productions

Dr. Barbara Ann Teer's National Black Theatre [NBT] announces the culminating workshop productions of two I Am Soul Playwriting Resident playwrights, Angelica Chéri and Derek Lee McPhatter. Chéri's workshop production, Crowndation: I Will Not Lie David, will be directed by Cezar Williams and star Sheria Irving (Broadway: ROMEO AND JULIET, TV/Film: The Good Wife; Madame Secretary) in a one woman show. McPhatter's workshop production, Serious Adverse Effects, will be directed by Mary E. Hodges. The cast for Serious Adverse Effects will be announced at a later date. Both of these productions conclude an 18-month residency for the playwrights at the institution, and feature within NBT'S 49th season, themed 'Black to the Future'.

Crowndation: I Will Not Lie to David, Part Three of the Prophet's Cycle, will run February 21 - February 25, 2018. The One-Woman-Show follows 29-year-old Fatima Seed. Now the same age as her mother when she died of breast cancer, Fatima battles her inner-contradictions, yanked in multiple directions by her faith, her sexuality, her purpose and a secret she discovers about her father, all in pursuit of becoming whole before her time runs out. Starring in the role of Fatima is Sheria Irving, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama who has worked on both Broadway and Off-Broadway stages. Whether it be collaborating on new plays or working in television and film, she has undertaken roles ranging from the classical canon of Shakespeare and Euripides to the brazen and ingenious works of numerous up and coming playwrights and writers.

Serious Adverse Effects will run March 28 - April 1, 2018. This sci-fi afro-futuristic play follows an unconventional scientist who is on the cusp of a cure for a mysterious disease. But to complete her research, she must find forgiveness from a family with no reason to trust her and embrace the transformative potential of her own healing. From the marvels of the modern laboratory to the inner depths of the human psyche, Serious Adverse Effects is an imaginative contemporary drama inspired by the resilience of African-American women in the twenty-first century.

Launched in 2012, I AM SOUL - Playwright Residency Program is the only program in the country that is dedicated to Black playwrights whose work demonstrates exceptional artistic merit and excellence in the theatrical field, with a commitment to production. Coined as a dream MFA program, this eighteen (18) month residency also seeks to unleash the soul of a playwright on the page so that they can develop, hone and explore new ways of artistic expression in a safe, supported and transformative environment. With I AM SOUL, NBT seeks to deepen the artistic relationship between Black theatrical institutions and Black playwrights in order to re-establish Black theatrical institutions as the foremost supporters and producers of new works created by Black playwrights. Past residents: Dennis A. Allen II, Nambi E. Kelley, Aurin Squire, and Mfoniso Udofia Current residents: Angelica Chéri, Derek Lee McPhatter, Eric Micha Holmes, & Lee Edward Colston II.

Tickets for Crowndation: I Will Not Lie to David" are now on sale. The workshop production runs from Wednesday, February 21 through Sunday, November February 25. Tickets are $20.00 general admission. Tickets can be purchased online at www.nationalblacktheatre.org, by calling NBT directly at(212) 722-3800, or at NBT's Box Office, open from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. National Black Theatre is located at 2031 Fifth Avenue between 125th and 126th Streets in Harlem (Take the 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 subway to 125th Street.). Follow NBT on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NationalBlackTheatre) and Twitter/Instagram (@NatBlackTheatre).

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