Voza Rivers News

The National Arts Club and Harlem Shakespeare Festival present the online world premiere of award-winning actress Debra Ann Byrd's Becoming Othello: A Black Girl's Journey

National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, Israeli Artists Project, Kairos Italy Theater, New Heritage Theatre Group/Impact Repertory Theatre, New York Classical Theatre, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, Repertorio Español, and Turkish American Repertory Theater & Entertainment

Initiated and hosted by National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, nine prestigious theatre companies will come together on Wednesday, October 28 to present an unprecedented virtual play reading.

Full casting has been announced for NY Classical Theatre's staged reading of Carlyle Brown's drama The African Company Presents Richard III, which will be performed on two nights in March in Harlem and midtown.

NY Classical Theatre in association with Voza Rivers/New Heritage Theatre Group and David Heron's Sure Thing Productions will present a staged reading production of Carlyle Brown's acclaimed play The African Company Presents Richard III on two nights in March.

On Monday, February 10th The League of Professional Theatre Women (Shellen Lubin and Catherine Porter, Co-Presidents), an organization which has been championing women in the professional theatre for over three decades, hosted an Oral History Project event with renowned Broadway publicist Irene Gandy in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (111 Amsterdam Avenue at 65th Street). For the second installment of the Oral History Project's 2019-2020 season, publicist, producer, and PR maven Irene Gandy discussed her life and ground breaking career with producer Voza Rivers, Artistic Director of the New Heritage Theatre Group.

Soul to Soul, the electrifying and emotionally captivating theatrical concert that explores the parallels of African American and Jewish history took the stage at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend on Sunday, January 19. Presented by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF), Soul to Soul included for the first time the participation of Oscar- and Grammy-nominated IMPACT Repertory Theatre.

Soul to Soul, the electrifying and emotionally captivating theatrical concert that explores the parallels of African American and Jewish history takes the stage this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend. Presented by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF), Soul to Soul will include for the first time the participation of Oscar- and Grammy-nominated IMPACT Repertory Theatre. The event will begin with an introduction by Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, Executive Vice President of The New York Board of Rabbis, and New York City Council Member Robert E. Cornegy, Jr., who represents the Council's 36th District spanning Bedford Stuyvesant and Crown Heights.

The League of Professional Theatre Women (Shellen Lubin and Catherine Porter, Co-Presidents), an organization which has been championing women in the professional theatre for over three decades, is producing an Oral History Project event with renowned Broadway publicist Irene Gandy on Monday, February 10 beginning at 6pm in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (111 Amsterdam Avenue at 65th Street). Admission to the event is FREE and seats are available on a first-come-first-seated basis. Doors will open at 5:30pm.

Soul to Soul, the electrifying and emotionally captivating theatrical concert that explores the parallels of African American and Jewish history takes the stage this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend. Presented by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF), Soul to Soul will include for the first time the participation of Oscar- and Grammy-nominated IMPACT Repertory Theatre. The annual concert will play on Sunday, January 19, 2pm, Off Broadway at the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, Edmond J. Safra Plaza, 36 Battery Place, NYC.

Let's Do Broadway! The Broadway League's multicultural influencer night inspires and engages with thought leaders within the African American community on how Broadway can increase access and opportunities for diverse audiences.

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust's first Writer-in-Residence, Debra Ann Byrd, is set to return to Stratford-upon-Avon in October 2019 with her new solo show BECOMING OTHELLO: A Black Girl's Journey.

Storytelling nonprofit The Moth – the force behind the Peabody Award-winning public radio show, The Moth Radio Hour, and the ultra-popular eponymous podcast, which is downloaded 70 million times a year – hosted The Moth Pop-Up Story Pitch Event on Saturday, August 17th as part of Harlem Week's “Summer in the City” celebration.

Prior to Thursday night's performance of Anais Mitchell's Hadestown, Tony and Emmy Award winner André De Shields was being honored at the annual Harlem Week kick-off reception at Gracie Mansion in New York.

Award winning actor James Duke Walker will host the PHP (People Helping People) Agency's Independence Day Life Coaching and Networking event at The New Vibe Lounge on Friday, July 5.

New York Classical Theatre in association with Voza Rivers/New Heritage Theatre Group and David Heron's Sure Thing Productions will present a staged reading production of David Stallings' new play Leonora at the Williams Institutional CME Church in Harlem on Monday June 3 at 7pm.

Southwest Shakespeare Festival presents Harlem Shakespeare Festival's All-Female OTHELLO starring Debra Ann Byrd as OTHELLO and Ella Loudon as IAGO with Natalie Andrews, Megan Lindsay, Amy Driesler*, Troi Hall, Kellyn Masters and Ryan L. Jenkins with Cello Orchestrations by Wei Guo.

Southwest Shakespeare Company presents Harlem Shakespeare Festival's All-Female, multi-racial mainstage production of OTHELLO: The Moor of Venice for a limited run April 19th through April 28th, 2019 at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, AZ. This new 90-minute adaptation of Shakespeare's OTHELLO, by Lisa Wolpe, is brought to the stages of Scottsdale as you've never seen it before. Celebrated director and educator Vanessa Morosco leads a cast of 8 classically trained actresses in a tragic tale that tells the story of a love that defies the boundaries of race; a hatred that defies all boundaries of reason. Together they will transform a lover's world of sighs into a universe of hurt... 'Othello': be careful who you trust!

The Apollo Theater announced today that it is undertaking the initial phase of the iconic Theater's transformation into the Apollo Performing Arts Center through two new theaters within the Victoria Theater Redevelopment Project at 233 West 125th Street.