2016-2017 Season Opener!
Monday, September 12, 2016
7:30pm
Blackboard @ the cell
338 W. 23rd Street / New York, NY 10011
$10 Suggested Donation
RSVP: [email protected]
OR
When Night Falls by Cynthia G. Robinson
Josiane Bisimwa, a Sudanese woman, falls victim to unspeakable violence and destruction that ravishes her small village and destroys her young family. She escapes to a refugee camp where she befriends Katherine Rice, a grieving American doctor who brings her to the United States. Although no longer in the Sudan, Josiane is plagued by guilt and is haunted by her past and the family she left behind. Bonded by grief and personal loss, these women struggle to heal, find peace, and the courage to love again.
Originally developed in part with the support of Rising Circle Theater Collective at the 2016 INKtank Play Development Lab for Emerging Artists of Color.
_____________________
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT:
Cynthia G. Robinson is a Playwright, Educator, Teaching Artist, and Producer. She holds a B.A. in English from Syracuse University and an M.A. in English Education from New York University. Her post-graduate studies include English Education at Trinity College,University of Oxford in the U.K.
Cynthias plays include Dancing on Eggshells (The Billie Holiday Theatre); Peolas Passing (Samuel French Off Off Broadway Theatre Festival; New Perspectives Theatre Company; Festival De Teatro Alternativo, Bogota, Columbia); Nightfall (The Fire This Time Festival); Gold Star Mother (EstroGenius Festival; publication in Book of Estro); Ascension (National Black Theatre Festival; NYC International Fringe Festival); Thunder: A Musical Memoir (NYC International Fringe Festival).
Awards and honors include: AUDELCO Recognition Award for Excellence in Black Theatre, Nominee (Dancing On Eggshells); Rising Circle Theater Collective/INKTank Playwriting Residency; Westchester Community College Foundation Faculty Excellence
Award for Scholarship and Creative Activities; State University of New York Chancellors Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities; Final Forty Playwright, Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play; Finalist, Black and Latino Playwrights Conference (Texas State University); Calvin B. Grimes Scholar-in- Residence (NYU);Tribeca All-Access Open Stage; Best New Play IRNE nomination(Ascension); Thomas Barbour Memorial Playwrights Award, Finalist(The Panacea).
Publications: Indie Theater Now (Ascension, Nightfall, Peolas Passing); The Book of Estrogenius 2012: A Celebration of Female Voices (Gold Star Mother). Cynthia is a member of The League of Professional Theatre Women,The Dramatists Guild of America, Inc., and serves as Co-moderator for The Fire This Time Festival Writers Group. She lives with her husband and creative partner, Cezar Williams, and their two daughters.
CynthiaGRobinson.com
Directed by Cezar Williams
Cezar Williams is a director, actor, dramaturge, and producer. Stage directing credits include the Off -Broadway premiere of Dancing on Eggshells (Billie Holiday Theatre), Free Will (The Arthur Seelen Theatre), Ghost Town and Tailypo (Detroit NY Festival), Lunchtime in Heaven (48 hours in Harlem), Nightfall and Slow Gin Fits (The Fire This Time Festival). He has worked at venues including The Actor’s Studio, Williamstown Theater Festival, 59 e.59 Summer Shorts, La Mama, The Cherry Lane, Bleeker Street Theater, The National Black Theatre Festival, The New York International Fringe Festival, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, HERE Performing Arts, the cell Theatre and The Kraine Theater. Cezar is a proud graduate of New York University where he was a Martin Luther King Jr. Scholar award winner. He is also the co-founder of Robinson Williams Productions, a theater production company based in Yonkers, NY. For professional inquiries contact him at [email protected]. www.cezarwilliams.com
MEET THE CAST
(in alphabetical order)
Philadelphia, PA native Ronnie Baker Jr is an eclectic actor working his way to the top. You can see his work on TvOne evening drama For My Man…. Jasmine L. Callis 3 time award winning shirt film Take 5. (KATRA Film Series , Black Star Film Festival, LAIFF Awards 2015) Also you can see his work in the award winning short film DICE ( Diamond Screen Film Festival Visionary Film , Atlantic Film Festival , Black Star Film Festival, & Brooklyn Short Film Festival) He has worked on Brotherly Love & Creed . Ronnie resides in Philadelphia and would love for you to follow him on his journey @RonnieBakerjr
Omaha, NE native Reginald L. Barnes is a versatile actor on the rise. Catch him this summer in HBO miniseries The Night Of…, Andre Joseph’s indie film Vendetta Games and Christopher J. Bell’s feature The Winds That Scatter ( Best Foreign Indie Feature-Korea Indie Expat Film Festival). After a Best Supporting Actor win at the World Music and International Film Festival for short film Night Stream (2014), he worked on various TV shows including Limitless, Daredevil
Magaly Colimon is a Haitian-American actress-writer-producer who was born and raised in New York City. Her acting credits include include primetime television (Law & Order SVU, Law & Order Criminal Intent, Guiding Light, The Closer, LAX, Sex in the City, etc.), theater (Taming of the Shrew, Lincolnesque, Exhibit #9, Light Raises the Roof, Diva Studies, Straight Talk Against the Grain, etc), and national television commercials. Her writer/producer credits include YES! MADAME (short film), BN4Real (a comedic web series), HER TORY (short film), PARALLELS (co-written with Clark Jackson), and 2 DIVAS & A CAMERA. She is a Yale School of Drama graduate and a Feldenkrais Method enthusiast.
Evander Duck: New York: Court-Martial At Fort Devens, New Federal Theatre, director Mary Beth Easley,(Audelco Award Best Cast & Best Play); Hurricane Katrina, director Dann Fink, Lucille Lortel Theatre; As You Like It, director Jessie Ontiveros, Mint Theatre; Julius Caesar, director Nate Merchant,American Globe Theatre; Blues For Mister Charlie, director Brad Malow, Marjorie Dean Theatre; Miss Evers’ Boys, Director Melanie Moyers, Red Fern Theatre Company. Regional: Henry V, director Michael Sexton, Two River Theatre Company; Macbeth,directors Aaron Posner & Teller (of Penn and Teller), Folger Theatre (Helen Hayes Nomination Best Ensemble) & Two River Theatre Company; Fences, director Timothy Douglas, American Stage and African Globe Theatre; Apostasy, director Suzanne Barabas, (World Premiere), New Jersey Repertory Company; The Exonerated, director Dave Mowers, Charlotte Repertory Company; Driving Miss Daisy,director John Eyd, Stage East Ensemble; A Christmas Carol, director Pedro Silva, North Carolina Shakespeare Festival. Film: The Incredible Jessica James, James Strouse; Saturday Church, Round Films & Spring Pictures; Keep the Change, Tangerine Entertainment; The Over/Under, Two Avenues Productions; Macbeth The Film, Folger Productions; For All Mankind, Onset Films; Meet the Pitts, Killer Clown Productions; Graveyard Shift, Dog-Eared Media Productions; Asbury Park, Seacoast Films; Give Chase, Laupus Productions, First Baptist, McClyde Productions; Long Shadows, Lamplighter Productions. Television: The Black List, NBC; House of Cards, The Affair, Showtime; Gotham, Fox; Made In Jersey, CBS; All My Children, ABC. Training: MFA, Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy for Classical Acting at George Washington University; American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Lynnette R. Freeman is a Jamaican-American actress, dancer, and teaching artist, raised in East Cleveland, OH, currently residing in New York. She trained at Brown/Trinity MFA Program, and has worked at numerous theaters across the country, some of which are InterAct Theatre Company, Trinity Rep, New Century Theatre, Barrington Stage, and Dorset Theatre Co. and more. She is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, and The League of Professional Theatre Women.
Some of her favorite roles have included Ruth in “A Raisin in the Sun”, Reheema Abu-Salaam in “In A Daughter’s Eyes”, Shanna in “Gutting”, Jenny/ Marge in “Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play”, Amy Williams in KENTUCKY; Esther Mills in INTIMATE APPAREL. Special thanks to friends and family for always believing and keeping the faith. LEAP! IG: LynnetteRFreeman/ FB: Lynnette R. Freeman.
Ty King: TV/ Film: Law and Order SVU; First Dates; 11th Man Rule Theatre: A Raisin in the Sun (Geva Theater Center); To Kill a Mockingbird (Denver Center Theatre); Macondo (Guthrie Theater); A Midsummer Nights’ Dream (Dallas Theater Center). Juilliard: Hurt Village; Clybourne Park; A Raisin in the Sun; Last Pair of Earlies;Merchant of Venice; Picnic; Broadway; Macbeth; A Midsummer Nights’ Dream; Ionescopade; The American Clock; A Month in the Country; The Last Black Play; Broadway; and Gint. Other stage credits include The Crucible, Inherit the Wind, Black Wallstreet, Once on this Island, Fool for Love, and Dutchman. Training: B.F.A.: The Juilliard School, Guthrie Theater Experience, and Dallas Theatre Center Actor Training Program.
Melissa Mickens: Recent credits include Justin Timberlake vs Ryan Gosling (Ars Nova Fest 2016), That Bachelorette Show (Ken Davenport Productions); Tatiana Pandiani’s Cafe Le Monde (Columbia Stages). Melissa is also the creator/writer/producer and star of the new web series Shampagne, streaming on shampagnews.com. IG: @rocksolidmel
Comments
Pingback: September - December 2016 - Blackboard Plays