Wednesday, August 1st: Lenox Avenue / Central Avenue, Absolute Theatre
Set in Harlem Socialite A’lelia Walker’s Brownstone in the 1920’s and Academy Award winning Actress Hattie McDaniel’s Hollywood backyard in 1940’s Lenox Ave/ Central Ave is a musical theater piece that explores the African- American struggle with the American Dream in the early part of the last century. Seen through the eyes of such luminous literary and entertainment characters as Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Zora Neal Hurston, Billy Strayhorn and Lena Horne Lenox Ave/ Central Ave shows the schizophrenic existence that African Americans often endured to make it in the United States racist Jim Crow society.
Absolute Theatre Company was formed in 1992 in order to bring previously unheard voices and perspectives to the theater world. A multi-cultural, pan-sexual ensemble of writers and actors, Absolute has created productions at La Mama E.T.C, The Chelsea Play House, ARS Nova, The Ohio Theater and The Lillian Theater in Los Angeles.
Friday, August 3rd & Saturday, August 4th: Romeo & Juliet, The Classical Theatre of Harlem
Using unconventional casting and groundbreaking staging, The Classical Theatre Of Harlem presents signature plays of Western theatre (Euripides, Chekhov, Brecht) as well as contemporary works (Derek Wolcott, Richard Wright, Melvin Van Peebles). C.T.H. continues its exploration of Shakespeare with a daring production of Romeo & Juliet. As New York Times once said: “That giant-killer of a company… makes a habit of locating the most challenging works in the canon and knocking them off as if with a slingshot.”
Sunday, August 5th: Live From the Edge, Universes
An urban ensemble that could only have formed in New York City, Universes combines poetry and political activism, hip-hop and jazz, minute social observations and expansive philosophical themes for a unique theater experience. As described in the Village Voice, this “effervescent, racially mixed group…are as likely to kick some poetry as break out into a capella singing, or to orchestrate a vocal exercise as they are to burst into a step show…Their energy and realness is unmatchable.”
Live From The Edge is a celebration of communal creation, tracing the evolution of a culture’s poetic language from nursery rhymes to hip-hop flow.
ALL SHOWS AT 8:00 P.M. IN MARCUS GARVEY PARK
Posted on August 1, 2007 by D. Bell