AUDELCO (Audience Development Committee) President Jackie Jeffries, Project1Voice Founder and CEO Erich McMillan-McCall, Marcia Pendelton, President of Walk Tall Girl Productions/Black Theater Online, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (Kevin Young, Director, Schomburg Center) are presenting THE THEATERMAKERS – A Black Theater Preview: Fall Edition at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (515 Malcolm X Blvd) on Monday, October 7, 2019 at 6:30 p.m. Four-time Tony Award®-winning producer Ron Simons of SimonSays Entertainment (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Porgy & Bess, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Jitney) will return as host. Black Theater Preview, now in its second year, brings attention to and celebrates the presence of black artists on stage: Broadway, Off-Broadway, and beyond.
THE THEATERMAKERS – A Black Theater Preview: Fall Edition, will feature presentations from a diverse theatrical roster including Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Ta-Nehesi Coates’ Between Me and the World at The Apollo Theatre, and the Broadway-bound Thoughts of a Colored Man (Baltimore Center Stage). The evening will also present conversations with playwrights Jeremy O. Harris (Slave Play on Broadway), and Donja R. Love (one in two ), directors Saheem Ali (Fires in the Mirror, The New Englanders), and Michele Shay (Reparations), leaders of black theater institutions such as Dr. Indira Etwaroo (The Billie Holiday Theatre) and Kamilah Forbes (Apollo Theatre), and much more. Additionally, the program will dedicate the time to speak with and to honor Emmy Award-winner and 2019 Tony Award-winner André De Shields (Hadestown). Those attending the event will have access to a theater marketplace that will offer production details, discounts, and information from Black Theater service organizations.
A number of theater companies will participate in this evening of conversation, commentary and performance. They are:
runboyrun & IN OLD AGE
by Mfoniso Udofia
directed by Loretta Greco & Awoye Timpo
New York Theatre Workshop
September 4 – October 13
Slave Play —
by Jeremy O. Harris
directed by Robert O’Hara
Golden Theatre
September 10 – January 5
The New Englanders
by Jeff Augustin
directed by Saheem Ali
Stage II at New York City Center | Manhattan Theater Club
September 17 – October 20
(A)loft Modulation
A play with jazz
by Jaymes Jorsling
directed by Christopher McElroen
The American Vicarious | Mezzanine Theatre at A.R.T./New York
September 26 – October 27
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
by Ntozake Shange
directed by Leah Gardiner
choreographed by Camille A. Brown
The Public Theater
October 8 – November 24
Thoughts of a Colored Man
by Keenan Scott II
directed by Steven H. Broadnax III
Baltimore Center Stage
October 10 – November 10
Sassy Mamas
by Celeste Bedford Walker
directed by Lorna Little Way
Black Spectrum Theatre Company
October 11 – 27
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
by Katori Hall
directed by Phyllida Lloyd
choreographed by Anthony Van Laast
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
October 12 –
for all the women who thought they were MAD
by Zawe Ashton
directed by Whitney White
Soho Rep
October 14 – November 17
American Slavery Project’s Unheard Voices
Conceived and Directed by Judy Tate
American Slavery Project and Sheen Center
October 15 – 16
Fires in the Mirror
conceived, written and originally performed by Anna Deveare Smith
directed by Saheem Ali
Signature Theatre
October 22 – November 24
Between The World And Me
Book by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Developed and Directed by Kamilah Forbes
Apollo Theatre
October 25, 26. 28
Reparations
by James Sheldon
directed by Michele Shay
The Billie Holiday Theatre
October 25 – November 24
Broadbend, Arkansas – A new musical
by Ellen Fitzhugh & Harrison David Rivers
directed by Jack Cummings III
music by Ted Shen
The Transport Group in Association with The Public Theater
The Duke on 42nd Street
October 25 – November 23
The Black History Museum…
According to the United States of America
by Zoey Martinson
HERE
November 1 – 24
one in two
by Donja R. Love
directed by Stevie Walker-Webb
The New Group at Pershing Square Signature Center
November 19 – December 29
The Dark Star of Harlem: The Spectacular Rise of Josephine Baker
by Glynn Borders & Mario E. Sprouse
The La Mama Experimental Theatre
November 21 – December 1
Live Radio Play – The Renaissance EP: A Theatrical Mixtape
by Nsangou Njikam
directed by Adesola Osakalumi
Harlem Stage
November 21-22
A Christmas Carol In Harlem
written by Charles Dickens
adaptation by Shawn René Graham
directed by Carl Coffield
choreographed by Tiffany Rea-Fisher
Classical Theatre of Harlem
December 4 – 21
Special Appearances:
Jay Delise – Spoken word artist
Girl Be Heard
André De Shields
Emmy Award and Tony Award winner
Participants and program subject to change.
THE THEATERMAKERS – A Black Theater Preview: Fall Edition is free. Seating is limited. RSVPs are required. For reservations visit www.Schomburg.org.
#BlackTheaterFallPreview2019
WHO’S WHO
André De Shields is the triple-crown winner of the 2019 theater awards season, having won the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Tony Awards as Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his unanimously critically acclaimed performance as Hermes, Messenger to the Gods, in Hadestown. The Actors’ Equity Foundation followed suit with the Richard Seff Award, which honors veteran stage actors’ best supporting performances of the year. Mr. De Shields will receive The York Theatre Company’s 2019 Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre on November 11 and will be inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame on November 18. He recently received the Key to the City of Baltimore from Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young. Prior to his Tony Award win, Mr. De Shields was best known for his show-stopping performances in four legendary Broadway productions: The Wiz, Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Emmy Award), Play On! (Tony Nomination), and The Full Monty (Tony Nomination). In a career spanning fifty years, he has distinguished himself as an unparalleled actor, director, and educator, receiving in 2018 the 8th Annual Off Broadway Alliance Legend Award, and the 33rd Annual Bob Harrington Life Achievement Bistro Award. Among his other accolades are the 2009 National Black Theatre Festival’s Living Legend Award and the 2007 Village Voice Obie Award for Sustained Excellence of Performance. www.andredeshields.com
AUDELCO, the Audience Development Committee, Inc., was established in 1973 by Vivian Robinson to honor excellence in African-American theatre in New York City. AUDELCO presents the Vivian Robinson/AUDELCO Recognition Awards (also known as Viv awards) annually. The awards were created to promote “recognition, understanding and awareness of the arts in the African-American community.” Upon the death of Robinson, Grace L. Jones carried on the organization’s vision and mission for 13 years until she passed in 2018. The legacy continues with Jackie Jeffries, a 32-year veteran of theater.
Erich McMillan-McCall is the Founder and CEO of Project1VOICE, Inc. (P1V) a 501(c)(3), nonprofit performing arts service organization based in New York City. Its mission is to support and promote the American theater specifically the narrative of and by people of African descent. Through its innovative programs and partnerships, P1V works to provide significant support, accessibility and adequate representation for African American theater. P1V’s core activity is the coordination of an international, same-day staged reading series that revives and re-introduces forgotten seminal works by playwrights from the African Diaspora—a critical thread in the tapestry of the American theater—called One Play One Day. It takes place on the third Monday in June, each year.
Marcia Pendelton is the Founder and President of Walk Tall Girl Productions/Black Theater Online. The company, founded in 2000, is a New York-based boutique marketing, audience development and group sales agency for the performing arts, with a special emphasis placed on the theater. The company has provided its expertise in creating diverse audiences for over 25 Broadway shows including the Tony winning productions of Jitney, Fences, and FELA! and numerous Off-Broadway for productions for clients such as The Public Theater, Signature Theatre, Manhattan Theater Club, and many more. Follow the company on Twitter @blktheatronline and Instagram @walktallgirl.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (Kevin Young, Director, Schomburg Center) Founded in 1925 and named a National Historic Landmark in 2017, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is one of the world’s leading cultural institutions devoted to the research, preservation, and exhibition of materials focused on African American, African Diaspora, and African experiences. As a research division of The New York Public Library, the Schomburg Center features diverse programming and collections spanning over 11 million items that illuminate the richness of global black history, arts, and culture.
Established with the collections of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg 93 years ago, the Schomburg has collected, preserved, and provided access to materials documenting black life in America and worldwide. It has also promoted the study and interpretation of the history and culture of people of African descent. In 2015, the Schomburg won the National Medal for Museum and Library Service and in January 2017, the Schomburg Center was named a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service, recognizing its vast collection of materials that represent the history and culture of people of African descent through a global, transnational perspective. Today, the Schomburg continues to serve the community not just as a center and a library, but also as a space that encourages lifelong education and exploration.
The Schomburg Center is committed to providing accessible programs and services for patrons with disabilities. All facilities and entrances are wheelchair accessible. American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation is available for most events with at least two weeks advance notice.
Follow the Schomburg Center on Instagram and Twitter @schomburgcenter
Ron Simons is a four-time Tony Award-winning producer, four-time Sundance Film Festival selected producer and actor of stage, film and television. He is the Founder and CEO of SimonSays Entertainment. Simons recently won his 4th Tony Award for the August Wilson hit Broadway show Jitney, under the category “Best Revival of a Play,” making him the highest African-American Tony Award winning producer of all time, and cementing him as the leading Broadway producer working today bringing diversity to the stage.
As CEO/President of SimonSays Entertainment, Ron Simons leads the strategic planning and development of theatre and film projects including the critically acclaimed films “Night Catches Us,” “Gun Hill Road,” “Blue Caprice” and “Mother of George” (all of which premiered at Sundance). His first documentary “25 to Life” premiered at the American Black Film Festival where it won Best Documentary. He also produced the Broadway productions of Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Tony Award for Best Musical), Porgy & Bess (Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Tony Award for Best Play, Drama Desk, New Drama Critics and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Play, Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play),and A Streetcar Named Desire (AEA’s Extraordinary Excellence in Diversity on Broadway Award). Off-Broadway projects include Turn Me Loose, Bedlam’s St. Joan and Bedlam’s Hamlet Awards Off-Broadway Alliance Award – Best Revival (for Saint Joan) and the Chicago production of 5 Lesbians Eating Quiche which received the FringeNYC Outstanding Production Award. He most recently received the Emerging Producer Award at the 2017 National Black Theatre Festival Opening Gala. Follow Ron Simos on Instagram @therealronsimons
Backstage Pass with Lia Chang 