First of all, kudos to director James Esposito for discovering the musical DESSA ROSE, based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Sherley Anne Williams. This awe-inspiring musical received its New York premiere at Lincoln Center in 2005 and it's a wonder no other theater group has decided to produce this timely exploration about the universal need for freedom and equality. With book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty, it tells the story of a young black woman (a runaway slave) and a young white woman (an abandoned mother) beginning in the years just prior to the Civil War and continuing through their journey to acceptance in the antebellum South. The audience has the role of playing their grandchildren, to whom the elderly pair tell their story as it is presented to us.
Silk Road Rising (Chief Programming Officer Jamil Khoury and Executive Director Malik Gillani) is proud to announce the World Premiere of Through the Elevated Line, written by Novid Parsi and directed by Carin Silkaitis. The production will run from March 7th to April 15th, 2018 at Silk Road Rising located at 77 W. Washington St., Lower Level, Chicago, IL, 60602. The Press Opening is March 17 at 4:00pm.
A powerful story of a convict returning from a brief prison stay to resume his position as the neighborhood kingpin. Mike is at a crossroads in his life and when Jelly Belly returns, decisions need to be made that will effect these characters for a long time. The Chicago Defender wrote 'Employing gritty poetry of the streets, Smith introduces us to Jelly Belly, who attempts to regain the service of Kenny, a former drug runner who has gone straight. Kenny is torn between the hope of prosperity through hard work shared with his friend Mike, or the opportunistic life of a drug pusher Jelly Belly offers.' Jelly Belly don't mess with nobody.
A Raisin in the Sun, the seminal work of playwright Lorraine Hansberry, tells the story of Walter Lee Younger and his family. Their dreams and plans have been thwarted and yet a ray of hope remains in the form of a life insurance check which could provide a new future for all of them. The Indiana Repertory Theatre is producing the play just in time for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History month.
Silk Road Rising (Chief Programming Officer & Mission Trustee, Jamil Khoury, and Executive Director, Malik Gillani) is proud to announce P3M5: The Plurality of Privacy Project in 5-Minute Plays, the first in a pairing of staged readings in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut.
New York City in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell. In the first part of Tony Kushner's epic, a gay man is abandoned by his lover when he contracts the AIDS virus, and a closeted Mormon lawyer's marriage to his pill-popping wife stalls.
Chromolume Theatre at the Attic has announced the first production of its 2018 Season of Musicals, Dessa Rose. With book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty, opening is set for Friday, February 2 at 8pm. The run will continue through February 25 only. The Chromolume's production of Dessa Rose will feature musical direction by Daniel Yokomizo, choreography by Michael Marchak, and it will be directed by James Esposito.
New York City in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell. In the first part of Tony Kushner's epic, a gay man is abandoned by his lover when he contracts the AIDS virus, and a closeted Mormon lawyer's marriage to his pill-popping wife stalls.
New York City in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell. In the first part of Tony Kushner's epic, a gay man is abandoned by his lover when he contracts the AIDS virus, and a closeted Mormon lawyer's marriage to his pill-popping wife stalls.
The Chromolume Theatre at The Attic in Los Angeles has announced a season of musicals for 2018, kicking off in February with the off-Broadway hit Dessa Rose by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, followed in July by Jane Eyre (book and additional lyrics by John Caird with music & lyrics by Paul Gordon), and concluding with Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Passion, opening in November.
Silk Road Rising (Chief Programming Officer Jamil Khoury and Executive Director Malik Gillani) is proud to announce the World Premiere of Through the Elevated Line, written by Novid Parsi and directed by Carin Silkaitis. The production will run on March 7th to April 15th, 2018 at Silk Road Rising located at 77 W. Washington St., Lower Level, Chicago, IL, 60602. The Press Opening is March 17 at 4:00pm.
Silk Road Rising (Chief Programming Officer Jamil Khoury and Executive Director Malik Gillani) is proud to announce Pure Land, the second in a pairing of staged readings in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Chicago. The staged readings will be held on February 3 and 4, 2018 at 4:00pm at Silk Road Rising located at 77 W. Washington St., Lower Level, Chicago, IL, 60602.
PACIFIC OVERTURES with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by John Weidman, with additional material by Hugh Wheeler had its Broadway premiere in 1976 and was presented in Kabuki style, with men playing women's parts and set changes made in full view of the audience by people dressed in black. It opened to mixed reviews and closed after six months, despite being nominated for 10 Tony Awards. Given the unusual casting and production demands, there is good reason why this remains one of the least-performed Sondheim musicals. So it's no wonder it has been 19 years since the musical has been presented in Los Angeles.
Silk Road Rising (Chief Programming Officer & Mission Trustee, Jamil Khoury, and Executive Director, Malik Gillani) is proud to announce P3M5: The Plurality of Privacy Project in 5-Minute Plays, the first in a pairing of staged readings in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut.
This play (with music) tells the story of a world-weary and disenchanted Aviator whose sputtering plane strands him in the Sahara Desert and a mysterious, regal 'little man' who appears and asks him to 'Please, sir, draw me a sheep.' During their two weeks together in the desert, the Little Prince tells the Aviator about his adventures through the galaxy, how he met the Lamplighter and the Businessman and the Geographer, and about his strained relationship with a very special flower on his own tiny planet.
Written in 1921 by Nobel Prize-winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, this iconic piece of expressionist drama is a searing social commentary on the divide between the rich and poor. Yank, an unthinking laborer, embarks on a search for a sense of belonging in a world controlled by the wealthy. His journey from the bowels of a transatlantic ocean liner to the wealthy neighborhoods of New York society serve as a metaphor for the struggle between the working man and the industrial complex found at the heart ofthe play.
Chromolume Theatre at the Attic has announced the final production of its 2017 Season of Musicals, Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures. Opening on Friday, December 1 at 8pm, the show will play a strictly limited engagement of 12 performances through December 17.
'The middle takes guts. The middle is where you go to sit down with monsters.' The Indiana Repertory Theatre's current Upperstage production, The Originalist, explores that middle, introducing us to a fictional relationship between Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and a liberal law clerk. The play is about the absolutely essential nature of debate. Having the freedom to openly discuss political issues is something we often take for granted in our country as we get lost in the fight. We forget that the person you disagree with doesn't have to be the enemy.
Silk Road Rising (Chief Programming Officer and Mission Trustee, Jamil Khoury and Founding Executive Director, Malik Gillani) is proud to announce the U.S. Premiere of Wild Boar, written by Candace Chong, translated from Chinese to English by Joanna C. Lee and Ken Smith, adapted by Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang, and directed by Helen Young.
The Indiana Repertory Theatre opened its season with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. It's a murder mystery, but not in the traditional sense. The murdered party is a dog and the 'detective' is a teenage boy named Christopher, whose developmental disabilities allow him to see the world through a unique lens. The show is at once emotionally exhausting and energetic. There's humor strategically placed in almost every scene to help break the tension.
