The Peculiar Patriot, the hilarious yet scathing indictment of the criminal justice system starring Liza Jessie Peterson and directed by Talvin Wilks is returning to National Black Theatre in preparation for a national tour this fall. The multimedia, one-woman show, which had its world premiere to a galvanizing, sold-out run in September, will have previews on July 9 and 10, open on July 11 and run through July 29. The show, a coproduction of Dr. Barbara Ann Teer's National Black Theatre (NBT) and Hi-ARTS, is being remounted as headlines blare with calls for tougher sentencing while governors from around the nation, including New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, are working to restore voting rights to the formerly incarcerated.
In this 50th anniversary year of the Loving vs. State of Virginia Supreme Court case that made interracial marriage legal in all 50 states, it is right that the renowned Penumbra Theatre, which puts questions of social justice at the center of its artistic mission, should take up gay rights. THIS BITTER EARTH centers on a love affair between two men, one black, one white.
Penumbra Theatre proudly announces the regional premiere of This Bitter Earth, an arresting new work by award winning playwright Harrison David Rivers. This Bitter Earth opens on Thursday, April 26 and continues through Sunday, May 20. Previews are April 24 and 25. Tickets range in price from $15 for students/youth to $40 for adults, and are on sale through Penumbra Theatre's box office at 651.224.3180 and online at www.penumbratheatre.org.
Penumbra Theatre embarks on an exciting new season under Artistic Director Sarah Bellamy. The 2018-2019 Season, Beyond Belief, explores the rituals, practices, and creative forces that both bind and enliven us. The lineup features classic and contemporary works by emerging and established black artists, the return of the popular Let's Talk series, and meaningful community outreach programming celebrating African American art and culture.
LUMBERYARD Contemporary Performing Arts is pleased to announce programming for its inaugural summer 2018 season, which will fill venues surrounding the organization's highly anticipated new facility in Catskill, New York-set to open its own doors in Fall 2018. The season,which runs from June 28 - September 1, represents the fullest realization to date of LUMBERYARD's unique dual promise: to make transformative contributions both to the cultural landscape and economic health of Upstate New York and to the field of contemporary performance in New York City and the U.S. by bringing renowned and emerging artists across the performing arts landscape to Catskill for out-of-town premieres, usually incubated through LUMBERYARD's signature technical residencies.
Amphibian Stage Productions is proud to host internationally-renowned artist Laura Anderson Barbata as she develops her one-woman play, The Eye of the Beholder. Performances will be Friday, March 23rd, and Saturday, March 24th at 8:00 pm.
Ping Chong + Company casts young New Yorkers to share the jubilant victories, recent discord and distant dreams of coming of age in this great, complicated city. Created exclusively for The New Victory Theater and featuring a cast of seven in their theatrical debuts, the world premiere of Undesirable Elements: Generation NYZ performs at The Duke on 42nd Street from January 13 - 21, 2018.
Ping Chong + Company casts young New Yorkers to share the jubilant victories, recent discord and distant dreams of coming of age in this great, complicated city. Created exclusively for The New Victory Theater and featuring a cast of seven in their theatrical debuts, the world premiere of Undesirable Elements: Generation NYZ performs at The Duke on 42nd Street from January 13 - 21, 2018.
Four projects representing diverse world voices, each with bold and independent visions of how art can elevate the human experience, comprise this year's selected projects for the two-week Sundance Institute Theatre Lab at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), convening December 3-17, 2017, with a public performance of another project slated for December 9. The Theatre Labs process is rigorous and generative. Dedicated to the creation and development of forward-thinking theater; projects are cast individually, rehearsed daily and benefit from concentrated, uninterrupted time and resources.
Four projects representing diverse world voices, each with bold and independent visions of how art can elevate the human experience, comprise this year's selected projects for the two-week Sundance Institute Theatre Lab at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), convening December 3-17, 2017, with a public performance of another project slated for December 9.
Peak Performances continues its acclaimed 2017-2018 season of works by women with ink, from award-winning choreographer and TED Fellow Camille A. Brown, February 1-4, 2018, at the Alexander Kasser Theater at Montclair State University.
Ping Chong + Company has announced that founder and artistic director Ping Chong is one of the recipients of the 2017-2018 Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellowship.
Pig Iron Theatre Company, the internationally acclaimed, Philadelphia-based organization, has announced that the world premiere of its ambitious, timely production A Period of Animate Existence will take place September 22-24 at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Pennsylvania in the 2017 Fringe Festival, co-presented by FringeArts and Annenberg Center Live.
Liza Jessie Peterson's hilarious and poignant one woman, multimedia show The Peculiar Patriot opened to standing ovation Sunday at Dr. Barbara Ann Teer's National Black Theatre (NBT), kicking off the historical Harlem theater's 49th season, Black to the Future. NBT and Hi-ARTS have joined forces to present the play, a blistering critique of the American criminal justice system. Peterson, who worked for nearly two decades at Rikers Island in various capacities and was featured in Ava DuVernay's Oscar-nominated documentary 13th, wrote the show, which is directed by Talvin Wilks. The Peculiar Patriot runs through October 1.
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.
Pig Iron Theatre Company, the internationally acclaimed, Philadelphia-based organization, has announced that the world premiere of its ambitious, timely production A Period of Animate Existence will take place September 22-24 at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Pennsylvania in the 2017 Fringe Festival, co-presented by FringeArts and Annenberg Center Live.
This artfully square rendering of a radio studio serves as the set for Radicals in Miniature, an oral history that excavates the lives of non-celebrities. Created by Ain Gordon and Talvin Wilks - Gordon is joined in performance by Josh Quillen - Radicals begins with its performers chanting the word 'fan' over and over again while unleashing a litany of facts that would be obscure even if their subject matter weren't.
There is be nothing on the stage more exhilarating, exasperating and joyful than the sight of an entire company completely committed, all on the edge-dancing literally on the edge of success, on the edge of failure. "Walking with 'Trane (2015)" reminds us what a vital contribution Urban Bush Women company has made to the American performing arts.
