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SEASON 69
It Ain't Nothin' BUT THE BLUES
Based on an original idea by Ron Taylor
Directed By Donald Owens
September 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 30,
October 1 2, 7, 8, 9 2022
It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues is a musical written by Charles Bevel, Lita Gaithers, Randal Myler, Ron Taylor, and Dan Wheetman. It was originally produced at The Denver Center for the Performing Arts and later presented by the Crossroads Theatre, in association with San Diego Repertory Theatre and Alabama Shakespeare Festival in New York City at the New Victory Theatre, Lincoln Center and Broadway's Ambassador Theater, where it garnered five Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical.
The musical traces the history of "blues" music with more than three dozen songs. Ron Taylor acted as singing narrator. From African chants and Delta spirituals to the urban electricity of a Chicago nightclub, from dusty backroads bluegrass to the twang of a country juke joint, It Ain't Nothin but the Blues, is a stirring retrospective of blues classics that summon the true soul of African American music. Over two Dozen musical numbers are included, among them "I'm your Hoochie Man," "Goodnight, Irene," "Fever," "Walkin' After Midnight," and "Let the Good Times Roll."
THE FACE OF EMMETT TILL
by David Barr and Mamie Till- Mobley
Directed by Daniel Carter
On August 28, 1955, Emmett Till was brutally murdered. Fifty years later, on June 2, 2005, the F.B.I. reopened the case. The Face of Emmett Till is a true-to-life dramatization of the death of 14-year-old Emmett Till, a Chicago teenager who, while visiting relatives in Money, Miss., was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by two white men who claimed they wanted to teach him a lesson for "allegedly" whistling at a local white woman. The horror and the brutality of this crime were magnified even more when his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, made the fateful decision to invite the media to the funeral where she had an open casket. The shocking pictures were published by the American Black press and were later republished around the world. The ramifications of this act are still being felt today. As retold for the first time within a creative, nonfictional genre by Mamie Till-Mobley, the play chronicles this tragedy, its aftermath, and her heroic crusade for justice. The year 2005 commemorates the 50th anniversary of this incident, which has rightfully been called "the hate crime that changed America" and in fact sparked the Civil Rights movement; two months after the death of Emmett Till, Rosa Parks stood up against Jim Crow and helped spearhead the historic Montgomery Bus Boycott. She has often cited the tragic death of Emmett Till as one of a myriad of reasons she refused to give her seat to a white passenger.
October 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30, 2022
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U Thought I Was Him
Conceived and Directed by Troy Burton
November 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20,
25, 26, 27
The U Thought I Was Him project is the expansion of the existing short film “U Thought I Was Him” to a full stage play in the form of a chroeopoem. The chroeopoem is a form of dramatic expression that combines poetry, dance, short stories and music. As producer, director and contributing playwright,
Troy Burton will bring a stage production about healing from many deep rooted, generational traumas and racial affronts that many face today.
His approach of using poetry, monologues, comedy, tragedy, music and movement will
provide the balance of entertainment and educational awareness. The workshops developed script are the results of several community conversations with other artists/creatives.
THE BLACK NATIVITY
by Langston Hughes
Directed by Khadijah Hameen
December 2, 3, 4,9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 2022
YOUTHEATRE CHRISTMAS PRODUCTION
December 15th at 7pm
December 10th and 17th at 7pm
An adaptation of the Nativity story by Langston Hughes, performed by an entirely black cast. Hughes was the author of the book, with the lyrics and music being derived from traditional Christmas carols, sung in gospel style, with a few songs created specifically for the show. The show was first performed Off-Broadway on December 11, 1961 and was one of the first plays written by an African American to be staged there. The show had a successful tour of Europe in 1962.
Scrooge and Rudolph are two delightful charmers. These Christmas stories on stage with the youth.
James Weldon Johnson's
GOD'S TROMBONES
Directed by Kwame Kenyatta Bey
January 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, 2023
1 prayer and 7 sermons taking you from Creation to Judgement Day. The director has set this play in today's Urban Baltimore. The good and the bad and how we will overcome. You will recognize these people and for once you can't ignore them.
STICK FLY
by Lydia R. Diamond
Directed by Marc Stevens
February 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26,2023
Features the LeVays, an affluent African American family with multiple houses, including a vacation home on Marth's Vineyard, where most of the plays's action occurs. It is a play about love and family that explores themes of race and privilege through the lens of class and status. We learn the idea that just because you are privileged it doesn't necessarily mean you are fortunate. You may come from or have a fortune, but you may not always be privileged
OPEN ADMISSIONS
by Shirley Lauro
&
WHEN MEN REDUCE AS WOMEN DO
by Otto Kicks
Directed by Isaiah Evans
March 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 31, April 1, 2, 2023
A black student accepted at the City College of New York, under the "Open Admissions Plan" for minorities, believes his white instructor, Dr. Alice Stockwell, is shuffling him through with "B's" irrespective of the quality of his work while concentrating her efforts on white students. Sounds familiar?
Now for a lighter moment. What happens when a bunch of men gather and talk like women about their efforts to lose weight. This results in a riot of laughter.