Tony Winner Trezana Beverley Directs HSF's All-Female OTHELLO, Nov 6-22

Take Wing And Soar Productions & Voza Rivers/New Heritage Theatre Group are proud to present THE HARLEM SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL'S All-Female, Multi-Racial THE TRAGEDY OF OTHELLO: The Moor of Venice. Directed by Tony Award Winning actress & director TREZANA BEVERLEY, OTHELLO's creative staff includes Dramaturg Dathan B. Williams, Fight Director Denise Hurd, Costume Designer Gail Cooper-Hecht, Lighting & Set Designer Will Cotton, Sound Designer David D. Wright, Production Stage Manager Norman Antony Small, Jr.* & Assistant Stage Manager Julius Hollingsworth.

OTHELLO stars DEBRA ANN BYRD* as Othello & MARY CHIEFFO as Iago. Featured in this AEA Approved Showcase Production are Daniela Maria Amador, Susan Barrett*, Christine Campbell*, Amy Driesler*, Mary Hodges*, Maria Hoffman, Karyn Holland, Claire Jamison, Penny Landau*, Liz Morgan*, Remington Moses, Dominican Pie, Beverley Prentice & Natasha Yannacañedo*.

TREZANA BEVERLEY [DIRECTOR] Actor-Director, winner of the distinguished Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway show For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf, Trezana Beverley is also recognized for her highly refined skills as a director, singer, acting teacher & writer. She has performed extensively in Regional & New York Theater. Most recently, she was seen playing the emotionally challenged German mother- Elfrieda, in War by Brandon Jacobs Jennings at Yale Repertory Theater. Other highlights of her distinguished Acting career include: Mother Courage; A Raisin In The Sun; Flyin' West; Peer Gynt & King Lear (as a man). In film: Beloved & Resurrection. Trezana is currently on the guest directing drama faculty of the Juilliard School in New York City. She is writing the book for a one-woman show based on the life of the legendary cabaret singer, Mabel Mercer, where she will sing & act the title role.

DEBRA ANN BYRD* [OTHELLO] recently starred as Marc Antony in the all-female Julius Caesar, directed by Petronia Paley. As the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of Take Wing And Soar Productions & the Harlem Shakespeare Festival, she guided the company's growth from its birth as the passionate dream of one determined woman, into a viable support organization serving classical artists of color & theater arts groups throughout New York. This hard working young woman received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Acting from Marymount Manhattan College & completed advanced studies at The Public Theater's Shakespeare Lab. Her classical roles for the stage include Queen Elizabeth in Richard III, The Choragos in Antigone, Mrs. Malaprop in The Rivals, Volumnia in Coriolanus, Winter in Love's Labors Lost, Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Cleopatra in Antony & Cleopatra, Othello in Othello & Lady Bracknell in The Importance Of Being Earnest; the latter, for which she received Best Lead Actress & Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role nominations from AUDELCO & the NY Innovative Theatre Awards. Member of AEA since 2002 & the League of Professional Theatre Women since 2005.

MARY CHIEFFO [IAGO] Harlem Shakespeare Festival & New York debut! Having played Macbeth in Erica Schmidt's all-female production (The Juilliard School), Chieffo is thrilled to continue exploring her inner male demons as Iago. Favorite roles include Lear in King Lear, Chris in Dancing at Lughnasa, Jessica in This Is Our Youth, Queen Elizabeth in Richard III & Nat in Rabbit Hole. Chieffo recently received her BFA from Juilliard, winning the Michel & Suria Saint-Denis Prize (Outstanding Achievement & Leadership in Drama).

THE HARLEM SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL [Producer] With the plays of William Shakespeare as its foundation, Debra Ann Byrd's Take Wing And Soar Productions & Voza Rivers' New Heritage Theatre Group have teamed up to produce the Harlem Shakespeare Festival, a newly created theatre festival spanning across Harlem with ongoing programming from late summer through early spring. The festival, now celebrating its 3rd season, was envisioned with a social justice mission to facilitate understanding & commitment to the arts by producing special events & plays with multicultural casts, with a special emphasis in giving center stage opportunities to women, youth & especially classically trained actors of color. The Festival, inaugurated in summer 2013, brings Shakespeare scripts alive featuring 3-5 Shakespeare & modern plays, master classes, panel discussions, workshops, international symposiums, artist talk-backs, Shakespeare4Kids, ShakespeareOnFilm & Shakespeare-In-The-Open-Air.

*DENOTES MEMBER AEA

DATES: Previews: Friday & Saturday, 11/6 & 11/7 @ 7:30pm & Sunday, 11/8 @ 3pm

Opening: Tuesday, 11/10 @ 7pm ~ Performances thru Sunday, 11/22 @ 3pm

TIMES: Tuesday, 11/10 - Saturday, 11/14 @ 7:30pm,

Thursday, 11/19 - Saturday, 11/21 @ 7:30pm, Sundays, 11/15 & 11/22 @ 3pm

THEATRE: Dorothy Maynor Theater ~ 409 West 141st Street

(corner of St. Nicholas Ave, Harlem, NY)

TICKETS: $18 (Opening Night Tickets ~ $100 ~ includes Opening Night Party)

RESERVATIONS: Online - https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/32845

Box Office opens 1 hour before curtain

Join us Online ~ www.harlemshakespearefest.org

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