A b
enefit reading of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Venus will be presented March 5 at Harlem Stage at the Gatehouse.The reading, which will benefit the Venus Project Worldwide, will feature the talents of Andre De Shields and current Wicked star Jayne Houdyshell as well as Bridgit Antoinette Evans and Nioka Workman. Cynthia Croot directs.
Tickets, priced $50-$250, are available by calling (646) 408-3428 or by visiting www.venusgiving.org. Harlem Stage at the Gatehouse is located in Manhattan at 150 Convent Avenue at 135th Street.
Venus, according to press notes, tells the real-life story of “a young South African woman named Sarah Baartman who was trafficked to London in 1810 and exhibited in a Piccadilly freak show as the legendary ‘Venus Hottentot.’ When her appeal begins to wane, she is sold to a lonely French scientist who studies her as a medica curiosity, falls in love, and after her death, gains fame for performing an autopsy of his lover’s corpse. He then sells her body parts to a French museum, where they sit on public display for nearly 200 years.” Venus received the 1996 Obie Award for Best Play and was hailed by Time Magazine as Best Play of 1996.
The upcoming event will also feature the world premiere of original music for solo cello by Nioka Workman and video footage from South African filmmaker Zola Maseko’s award-winning documentary, “The Return of Sara Baartman.”
Source: Playbill
Posted on March 2, 2007 by D. Bell