Frank Silvera News

A staged reading of Rafael Moreno's family drama Fotos, which played to packed houses and critical acclaim last summer at The Producers Club, will close the 2017 -2018 season of the prestigious Frank Silvera Writers Workshop at the Billie Holiday Theatre in Brooklyn on Monday June 18.

Liberation Theatre Company (LTC) a Harlem-based independent theatrical producer and playwright development company established to support emerging Black playwrights, has chosen four promising new writers to participate in their Writing Residency Program for 2018-2019, the second year of the program.

Premiere Stages at Kean University has announced the winner of the 2018 Premiere Play Festival, its annual competition for unproduced scripts written by playwrights affiliated with the greater metropolitan area. The theatre has named Linger by Glen Ridge resident Craig Garcia this year's winner, and will present the play's first professional production this summer as part of the theatre's 14th season in residence at Kean University. The season, which runs June-October, will also feature full productions of Brick City by Ridgewood resident Nicole Pandolfo and Black Tom Island by Jersey City resident Martin Casella, as well as a developmental workshop of this year's runner-up for the Premiere Play Festival, Baton by Brooklyn resident Deneen Reynolds-Knott. 

The AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre brings back the groundbreaking 50in50: Women's Voices Initiative with the Obie Award-winning Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop with a reading March 17, 2018 at 7pm in The Billie Holiday Theatre, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY. 

A play about the life and times of one of America's premier comedian's. Taking place at the end of her career, on the day of her last performance at the World Apollo Theatre in Harlem, NYC. An interview is granted to Mr. Charles Earthstein from The Chicago Community Paper. News Magazine. The interview takes us through the journey of a life, experiences of a career and pointed perspectives of varied issues in the span of 40 years of the life of Ms. Jackie ' Moms' Mabley. The journey takes us to moments that made her endearing to us all, the stage. Sharing the brilliance of her wit, wisdom and cleverly exposed care for her profession, her culture and America's most precious comedity, our children.

MacGillivray Freeman Films today announced that Academy Award-winning actor, Morgan Freeman, will narrate America's Musical Journey,the company's newest 3D documentary for IMAX and giant screen theatres. America's Musical Journey, produced in association with Brand USA and presented by Expedia, will be opening in select museums and institutions beginning February 16 th. The film celebrates the rich cultural diversity of America as seen through the story of its music.

The Billie Holiday Theatre presents the tour de force one-man show An Adam Experiment written and performed by Michael Chenevert with creative collaborator Hollis King, opening on Fri, Jan 12 at 7PM, Sat, Jan 13 at 2PM and Sun, Jan 14 at 3PM at the Billie Holiday Theatre, Brooklyn, NY 11216.

To commemorate the 1918 holocaust lynchings of eleven African Americans, including Mary Turner and her unborn baby in Brooks County, Georgia, The Billie Holiday Theatre and RestorationART present the New York Premiere of A Small Oak Tree Runs Red by Brooklyn's own LeKethia Dalcoe, directed by renowned actor and director, Harry Lennix. Performances will begin February 2, 2018 with the Opening on February 8 and running through March 4 at The Billie Holiday Theatre, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11216.

The Billie Holiday Theatre, in association with The Frank Silvera Writers Workshop, presents a reading of STIILL LIFE GOES ON by Christine Melton, directed by Count Stovall, on December 11, 2017 at 7 p.m. at the Billie Holiday Theater (1328 Fulton Avenue, Brooklyn, NY).

The Billie Holiday Theatre presents the tour de force one-man show An Adam Experiment written and performed by Michael Chenevert with creative collaborator Hollis King, opening on Fri, Jan 12 at 7PM, Sat, Jan 13 at 2PM and Sun, Jan 14 at 3PM at the Billie Holiday Theatre, Brooklyn, NY 11216.

Cumbe: Center for African and Diaspora Dance (Cumbe), a thrilling and diverse dance studio championing African Diaspora dance and music, is ready to open the doors to its new home in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn at RestorationART.

Cumbe: Center for African and Diaspora Dance (Cumbe), a thrilling and diverse dance studio championing African Diaspora dance and music, postpones its scheduled September 23 opening-day community celebration. The in-studio community celebration will still take place at a later date, to be confirmed. The start of classes is also postponed and will not commence on Monday September 25. While the renovation is close to completion, important details are still being addressed, resulting in an unexpected delay.

Cumbe: Center for African and Diaspora Dance (Cumbe), a thrilling and diverse dance studio championing African Diaspora dance and music returns to Brooklyn, resuming its well-loved classes on September 25. After being pushed out of its prior location in Downtown Brooklyn two years ago, Cumbe found a new home via its partnership with RestorationART at Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation's dynamic new 21st Century Complex. A community day opening on Saturday, September 23, will offer $5 classes.

Morgan Freeman – Academy Award® winning actor, producer, voice actor and activist – has been named the 54th recipient of SAG-AFTRA's highest tribute: the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment.

The Billie Holiday Theatre - home to the largest African American community in the nation - announces the inaugural season in its newly-renovated theater with award-winning works from the African American theater canon.

Dr. Barbara Ann Teer's National Black Theatre's 49th season cedes the floor to modern-day griots with gripping, one-person tales capturing the trauma and triumph of a people. In a nod to the African tradition of the storyteller and historian who inspires and uplifts, the season is anchored by two one-person shows, The Peculiar Patriot, by Liza Jessie Peterson, a coproduction with Hi-ARTS, and Sancho by Paterson Joseph, a coproduction with Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH) and Pemberley Productions. Themed "Black to the Future," the 49th season-which includes workshop productions by resident playwrights-seeks to take stock of the present and look to the past to predict and help shape a brighter future for Black people.

Signature Theatre has announced that Gun & Powder by Ross Baum and Angelica Cheri has been chosen for further development at the second annual SigWorks: Musical Theater Lab.

RestorationArt, the 21st century creative complex in Central Brooklyn, reopens the AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre that was founded in 1972 by Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, after completing its first major renovation in 45 years.

Forged in the kiln of the civil rights movement and birthed in the midst of urban decay, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (Restoration), founded in 1967, celebrates its 50th anniversary in Central Brooklyn, home to the largest Black community in the United States. With a deepened and renewed commitment to supporting revolutionary art makers and protecting sustainable art spaces, Restoration launches the dynamic 21st century creative complex: RestorationArt.  

Dr. Barbara Ann Teer's National Black Theatre (NBT) has selected two Black playwrights for its I AM SOUL residency program, the nation's premier theatrical program dedicated solely to the development of Black playwrights, with a commitment to a workshop production of their new works.