Charles Weldon News

To launch its 50th anniversary season, The Negro Ensemble Company (NEC) will revisit its very first production, 'Day of Absence' (1966) by Douglas Turner Ward, with an eight-performance run December 4-11 at Theatre 80 St. Marks, 80 St. Mark's Place.  The season will include three more productions at Theatre 80 St. Marks and one at La MaMa.

Beginning in June 2016, The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. (NEC) will deepen its commitment to discovery, development and presentation of superior theatre with four consecutive weekends of exciting and innovative productions showcasing up-and-coming Black playwrights. The Emerging Playwrights Competition is NEC's 2016 Pilot Project, marking NEC's return to the solid and impressive development and training format that established the company as an American theatre icon for over three decades. Performances will take place June 9th through July 3rd at LaMaMa ETC in The Downstairs theatre, 66 East 4th St., New York, NY 10003. To purchase tickets visit The Negro Ensemble Company website at www.necinc.org or by phone by calling OvationTix at 866-811-4111 Monday thru Friday 9-9 & Saturday and Sunday 10-8. For further information and group rates call the NEC office at 212-582-5860.

 The renowned Negro Ensemble Company, Inc will present a staged-reading at the Signature Theatre of Layon Gray's powerful new play Searching For Willie Lynch.

Revisiting the traumas of the 1960s has been the subject of two recent plays which have debuted in Portland. After Rob Urbinati's monumental Mama's Boy at the Good, Portland stage is now presenting Katori Hall's poetic play about Martin Luther King, To the Mountaintop.

YOUR BLUES AIN'T SWEET LIKE MINE began its three-week run April 17 at the Two River Theater in Red Bank by focusing on the important issue of race in America. Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson's script and direction produced a realistic and meaningful production that reinforced the concept that more than home is where the heart is - it's where you are as well - and asked many poignant questions whose answers appear at different points in the performance.

Two River Theater (Artistic Director John Dias, Managing Director Michael Hurst) presents the world premiere of Your Blues Ain't Sweet Like Mine, written and directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. The press opening is Friday, April 17 at 8pm and performances will continue through Sunday, May 3 in Two River's Rechnitz Theater, 21 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank, NJ. Tickets are available from 732.345.1400 or tworivertheater.org.

Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, announces special Inside Two River events for its production of Your Blues Ain't Sweet Like Mine, a world premiere written and directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Featured in the cast are Brandon J. Dirden (Zeke), Andrew Hovelson (Randall), Merritt Janson (Judith), Roslyn Ruff (Janeece), and Charles Weldon (Zebedee). The production will run through May 3, 2015, with the opening night on April 17, 2015. Single tickets starting at $20 are now available from 732.345.1400 or tworivertheater.org. Your Blues Ain't Sweet Like Mine is sponsored by lead sponsor WBGO Jazz 88.3FM and WBGO.org.

On Monday, March 24, 2014, The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. (Charles Weldon, Artistic Director; Karen Brown, Executive Director) and Signature Theatre (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director) will unite in a day-long celebration of the life and works of Tony Award-nominated playwright Leslie Lee. Lee passed away in New York City on January 20, 2014.

On Monday, March 17, 2014 The Legendary Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. will unveil the 2014 new works Monday series, NEC'S MONDAY NIGHT READING SERIES AT THE PERSHING SQUARE SIGNATURE CENTER. NEC will hold readings beginning Monday, March 17, 2014. All readings will start at 7:00 pm on The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036. A VIP Reception will immediately follow each reading. The series will feature 4 exceptional plays written by celebrated playwrights. None have been produced for New York audiences. Tickets are on sale now; $20.00 for each Monday night, $30.00 per night with reception. The series may be purchased at a discounted rate through Ticket Central. For ticket information and series package rates, visit www.ticketcentral.com or call 212-279-4200 (Daily 12noon-8pm).

The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. opens the 47th season of inspirational, innovative and exciting stage productions with a special Valentine's Day concert starring the dynamic, award-winning singer/actress Lillias White in two performances of 'A Woman On Love' tonight, February 14, 2014

The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. has announced that Lillias White's concerts tomorrow have been canceled due to the inclement weather forecast and severe snow warnings.

The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. opens the 47th season of inspirational, innovative and exciting stage productions with a special Valentine's Day concert' starring the dynamic, award-winning singer/actress Lillias White in two performances of 'A Woman On Love' on Friday, February 14, 2014. Ms. White will grace the stage of the Langston Hughes Auditorium at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801 with shows at 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm. There will be a VIP Reception immediately following the second concert.

The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. opens the 47th season of inspirational, innovative and exciting stage productions with a special Valentine's Day concert starring the dynamic, award-winning singer/actress Lillias White in two performances of 'A Woman On Love' on Friday, February 14, 2014.

Stealin' Home (A Baseball Fantasy) by Fred Newman is a play about Jackie Robinson, baseball and America's imperfect integration. 'Stealin' Home has much to share on racism, hero worship, cultural changes in the United States…' - The New York Times (November 20, 2004).Stealin' Home locates the impact of integration of the Major League Baseball in 1947 within the social changes that were to follow. The drama opens on October 11 and runs through November 24 at the Castillo Theatre.

The legendary, awarding winning Negro Ensemble Company celebrates 45 years of excellence with the benefit production The Monkey on My Back! (An Intimate Evening with Debbi Morgan) on the Irene Diamond Stage at The Perishing Square Theater, 480 West 42nd Street, New York. Debbi Morgan, best known for her 30 year tenure in the role of Angie Hubbard in the daytime soap opera 'All My Children,' writes and stars in this hard hitting dramedy. 'We are ecstatic to have our friend Debbi at the NEC.' exclaims Charles Weldon, NEC Artistic Director. 'We have watched her meteoric rise to stardom and this dynamite production is as equally stellar.'

The legendary, awarding winning Negro Ensemble Company celebrates 45 years of excellence with the benefit production The Monkey on My Back! (An Intimate Evening with Debbi Morgan) on the Irene Diamond Stage at The Perishing Square Theater, 480 West 42nd Street, New York. Debbi Morgan, best known for her 30 year tenure in the role of Angie Hubbard in the daytime soap opera 'All My Children,' writes and stars in this hard hitting dramedy. 'We are ecstatic to have our friend Debbi at the NEC.' exclaims Charles Weldon, NEC Artistic Director. 'We have watched her meteoric rise to stardom and this dynamite production is as equally stellar.'

While 'Lee Daniels' The Butler' is generating Oscar buzz for its chronicle of several decades of African- American political life, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson masterfully documented a full century of the African-American experience in the 10 plays the make up the American Century Cycle. These works, nine of which have been staged on Broadway with stars including Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Charles Dutton, among many others, showed the suffering, joys, and triumphs of African-Americans through searing, poetic and personal stories of everyday people in Pittsburgh, PA.