<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" > <channel> <title>Lynn Nottage Archives - Cultural Attaché</title> <atom:link href="https://culturalattache.co/tag/lynn-nottage/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://culturalattache.co/tag/lynn-nottage/</link> <description>The Guide to Arts and Culture events in and around Los Angeles</description> <lastBuildDate>Thu, 18 Aug 2022 19:27:58 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1</generator> <item> <title>Playwright Johnny G. Lloyd Practices Patience</title> <link>https://culturalattache.co/2022/08/17/playwright-johnny-g-lloyd-practices-patience/</link> <comments>https://culturalattache.co/2022/08/17/playwright-johnny-g-lloyd-practices-patience/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 17 Aug 2022 20:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category> <category><![CDATA[The Play's The Thing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[What's Hot]]></category> <category><![CDATA[interview]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Johnny G. Lloyd]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lynn Nottage]]></category> <category><![CDATA[McGinn/Cazale Theater]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Patience]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Playwright]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Second Stage Theater]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://culturalattache.co/?p=16787</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>"I feel very lucky that I've been able to, in a way, fail at certain parts of the theatrical tradition in order to learn things. We're all trying to create something together and having the opportunity to simply exist is how you learn and how you grow."</p> <p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/08/17/playwright-johnny-g-lloyd-practices-patience/">Playwright Johnny G. Lloyd Practices Patience</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Johnny-G.-Lloyd-Photo-by-Heidi-Bohnenkamp-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-Theatre-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-16795" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Johnny-G.-Lloyd-Photo-by-Heidi-Bohnenkamp-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-Theatre-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Johnny-G.-Lloyd-Photo-by-Heidi-Bohnenkamp-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-Theatre-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Johnny-G.-Lloyd-Photo-by-Heidi-Bohnenkamp-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-Theatre-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Johnny-G.-Lloyd-Photo-by-Heidi-Bohnenkamp-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-Theatre-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Johnny-G.-Lloyd-Photo-by-Heidi-Bohnenkamp-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-Theatre-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Johnny-G.-Lloyd-Photo-by-Heidi-Bohnenkamp-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-Theatre-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Johnny-G.-Lloyd-Photo-by-Heidi-Bohnenkamp-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-Theatre-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Johnny-G.-Lloyd-Photo-by-Heidi-Bohnenkamp-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-Theatre.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Playwright Johnny G. Lloyd (Photo by Heidi Bohnenkamp/Courtesy Second Stage Theater)</figcaption></figure></div> <p>“There are people for whom, you know, it takes a very long time. I feel lucky that I’m able to have a first off-Broadway production. There are people who are still waiting for that.” Playwright Johnny G. Lloyd no longer has to wait as his play <em><a href="https://2st.com/shows/patience" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Patience</a></em> is having its world premiere at Second Stage Theater’s The McGinn/Cazale Theater in New York.</p> <p>The play depicts a Black gay champion solitaire player, Daniel (Justin Davis), considering if it is time to stop competing. As he’s making this professional calculation, his boyfriend (Jonathan Burke) is wanting to settle down in a more traditional way while Daniel is being challenged by an 18-year-old player named Ella (Zainab Barry) who wants to be the world’s best solitaire player.</p> <p>Lloyd created the world of champion in-person solitaire for <em>Patience</em>. There are no such tournaments, but his own experience playing solitaire informed the world in which his play takes place.</p> <p>“I played a lot of solitaire. I was a Windows95 kid. I always start my plays through a place of structure and then I try to find the story,” he revealed in a recent Zoom conversation. “With this play I knew that I was very interested in card games and I knew that I wanted solitary play. I felt like there was something that was theatrically really interesting about that. Solitaire is this thing that is so singular. I got really excited by that. It was really what are the games that I know and love and then how can I translate that into a theatrical medium.”</p> <p><em>Patience</em> began its life at Columbia University in January 2019 when Lloyd was being mentored by Lynn Nottage (<em>Ruined</em>). That was followed by a 2019 workshop at the Corkscrew Festival. A 2021 reading at Second Stage led to this world premiere.</p> <p>When we spoke <em>Patience</em> was just starting the first of its previews. Lloyd was very clear about his role once a play finds its way into the hands of its cast and director.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Zainab-Barry-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-2-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-16799" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Zainab-Barry-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Zainab-Barry-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-2-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Zainab-Barry-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Zainab-Barry-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Zainab-Barry-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-2-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Zainab-Barry-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-2-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Zainab-Barry-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-2-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Zainab-Barry-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-2.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Zainab Barry and Justiin Davis in “Patience” (Photo by Jeremy Daniel/Courtesy Second Stage Theater)</figcaption></figure></div> <p>“I like to always say that I’m the stupidest person in the room because I have a sense of what I want,” he said before letting out a warm laugh. “But as soon as an actor gets a hold of it, I’m just learning from that person. I believe wholeheartedly in really trying things out with actors and asking them how something feels. I find it just so necessary and this is such a giving group of actors. </p> <p>“Where are you in your trajectory? What do you think is happening here? Is there where we need to go? Do you feel us getting there and sometime’s the answer’s yes and sometimes the answer is absolutely not. It’s been about excavating and finding all of those little micro moments that make a massive difference when you put them into motion.”</p> <p>It all comes down to decisions. Just as Daniel faces in the play. In the language Lloyd has written for his protagonist, Daniel says, “Every time you make a choice, you reveal new things, but you also destroy new things and old things.”</p> <p>“A lot of the idea of that comes from the structure of solitaire itself,” Lloyd says of that line. “Every time you flip over a card, it could be anything until you flip it over. I was always really interested in what does the game say? If I had to listen to the game what is in front of me in the game. As somebody who’s been in the theater for the last ten plus years and had a lot of jobs, there’s a moment when this moment is over. This particular part of this thing is over and also it’s feeding into the next chapter. So you have to release the things that you thought you wanted in order to move into the things that you actually want. I think that that’s been something that’s certainly paid off for me and my career constantly.”</p> <p>With each decision, right or wrong in any given moment, that sets up a whole other bunch of choices that Lloyd, like all of us, has to make.</p> <p>“A lot of my work is like time is a flat circle, like everything has already happened before. Yet I think that there’s a magic in the ability to decide things in the moment for yourself, even if perhaps you might not have all the right information. You might not have the ability to say this is right, but you’ll never know if it was right. Maybe it was right. Maybe the thing that seemed the most wrong was actually the most right. You have no way of knowing that and I think that there’s a power in accepting that the power you have is to choose.”</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Jonathan-Burke-and-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-16800" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Jonathan-Burke-and-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Jonathan-Burke-and-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Jonathan-Burke-and-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Jonathan-Burke-and-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Jonathan-Burke-and-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Jonathan-Burke-and-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Jonathan-Burke-and-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Jonathan-Burke-and-Justiin-Davis-in-22Patience22-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-Courtesy-Second-Stage-Theater.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Jonathan Burke and Justiin Davis in “Patience” (Photo by Jeremy Daniel/Courtesy Second Stage Theater)</figcaption></figure></div> <p>One of the themes that runs through <em>Patience</em> is the concept of Black excellence. Venus and Serena Williams are held up as examples of not just Black excellence, but also <em>better than the best</em>. Lloyd has given those concepts a lot of thought during the writing and development of his play. </p> <p>During the Corkscrew Festival he gave an interview where he said that “The better than the best mentality can open up a lot of doors, but racism can still close them as quickly. And I think knowing that makes it difficult to make long term commitments.” </p> <p>While there has been a lot of discussion about creating more equal playing fields in the theater for people of color, Lloyd isn’t ready to say significant progress has been made…yet.</p> <p>“It’s still too soon to tell. In 2020 there was a lot of energy around these issues. Yet also I think we’ve seen institutions, particularly the theater right now, take that energy and then stifle that energy. In another five years perhaps we’ll be able to say yeah, this was a turning point or this wasn’t a turning point. In this particular moment where’s the space for a person of color to be mediocre? That doesn’t really exist in the way that it should. Hopefully that is shifting and hopefully that is changing.”</p> <p>Lloyd isn’t talking about being mediocre, but of support for the maturation of an artist.</p> <p>“I feel very lucky that I’ve been able to, in a way, fail at certain parts of the theatrical tradition in order to learn things. I think there are a lot of people who, in their experiences, one is done. As an artist the only thing you can really hope for is grace. We’re all trying to create something together and having the opportunity to simply exist is how you learn and how you grow.”</p> <p>It’s no accident that of that many various types of solitaire games, Lloyd chose <em>Patience </em>as the title for his play. Asked how much patience he personally has, he’s quick to respond.</p> <p>“A lot of patience, but not as much as some people. The dream really is to be able to collaborate with other people. You can always find opportunities for that. Any chance to collaborate is a thing to explore. I’m so thankful for the opportunity and the platform and I’ve had such an amazing time working with Second Stage. </p> <p>“I think about it in terms of am I going to be able to just write. That’s all I really want to do. Having the opportunity to do that by myself means that I don’t feel like I have to wait all the time because I’m able to do this thing myself and I’m able to work with people that I truly care about. I love productions and I would love as many productions as possible. But I think the mentality that you have to get <em>the thing</em> is what destroys a lot of people. Really we’re in this because we love connecting with others. I think that when you bring that energy you can never be waiting for to work.”</p> <p>Johnny G. Lloyd’s <em>Patience</em> is scheduled to run through August 28th.</p> <p>Main photo: Jonathan Burke and Justin Davis in <em>Patience</em> (Photo by Jeremy Daniei/Courtesy Second Stage Theater)</p> <p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/08/17/playwright-johnny-g-lloyd-practices-patience/">Playwright Johnny G. Lloyd Practices Patience</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://culturalattache.co/2022/08/17/playwright-johnny-g-lloyd-practices-patience/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>Composer Ricky Ian Gordon Writes His Italian Opera</title> <link>https://culturalattache.co/2022/01/27/composer-ricky-ian-gordon-writes-his-italian-opera/</link> <comments>https://culturalattache.co/2022/01/27/composer-ricky-ian-gordon-writes-his-italian-opera/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 27 Jan 2022 08:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Opera: Bravo]]></category> <category><![CDATA[What's Hot]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Giorgio Bassani]]></category> <category><![CDATA[interview]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Intimate Apparel]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lynn Nottage]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Michael Korie]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Minnesota Opera]]></category> <category><![CDATA[National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene]]></category> <category><![CDATA[New York City Opera]]></category> <category><![CDATA[opera]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Ricky Ian Gordon]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Stephen Sondheim]]></category> <category><![CDATA[The Garden of the Finzi-Continis]]></category> <category><![CDATA[The Grapes of Wrath]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Vittorio De Sica]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://culturalattache.co/?p=15754</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>"The tragedy in this movie is that at the heart of it is this unrequited love story, which is a very, almost adolescent kind of pain. But that pain is magnified by the pain of the catastrophe in the background."</p> <p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/01/27/composer-ricky-ian-gordon-writes-his-italian-opera/">Composer Ricky Ian Gordon Writes His Italian Opera</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The path to writing an opera based on Giorgio Bassani’s novel <em>The Garden of the Finzi-Continis</em> began for composer Ricky Ian Gordon with a train ride from the south shore of Long Island to East Rockaway to see a movie when he was fifteen years old.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Ricky-Ian-Gordon-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera-2-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-15765" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Ricky-Ian-Gordon-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Ricky-Ian-Gordon-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera-2-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Ricky-Ian-Gordon-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Ricky-Ian-Gordon-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera-2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Ricky-Ian-Gordon-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera-2-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Ricky-Ian-Gordon-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera-2-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Ricky-Ian-Gordon-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera-2-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Ricky-Ian-Gordon-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera-2.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Composer Ricky Ian Gordon (Courtesy New York City Opera)</figcaption></figure></div> <p>“I was obsessed with foreign films. I mean, obsessed. I knew every Bergman film, every Antonioni film, every Alain Resnais film, Truffaut, Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, Yasujiru Ozu. I was crazy. And so I went to see every new foreign film that opened. And, of course, I knew De Sica. I knew <em>The Bicycle Thief</em>. But nothing sort of prepared me for <em>The Garden of the Finzi-Continis</em>. It sort of knocked me out. But I was still a kid, so I was only knocked out as much as you can be at 15.” The film won the 1972 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.</p> <p>It’s a story of two Jewish families in Italy in the 1930s. The Finzi-Continis are enormously wealthy and they feel protected from the outside world in their enormous compound. Giorgio is a member of a less well-off family and is in love with his childhood friend, Micòl, the daughter of the Finzi-Continis. Steadfast loyalty to the Fascist Party and great wealth, however, prove not to be the safety blanket the Finzi-Continis think it will be. </p> <p>So haunted was Gordon by the film that he would revisit it every five years or so. Fast forward to 2008.</p> <p>“Michael Korie and I had already written <em>The Grapes of Wrath</em> which was a huge success at Minnesota Opera and we were looking for our next project. I was not thinking about <em>The Garden of Finzi-Continis</em>. I was walking home from the subway. I was on 77th Street and there was one of those video stores and I was going home. I wondered if my partner Kevin had ever seen that movie. So I rented it. </p> <p>“We watched it that night and I had a reaction to it that I had never had – which was bordering on hysteria. It was so shattering to me. I was a grown up. I had gone through the AIDS crisis. I had gone through the death of a partner. My particular wealth of grief was much deeper. The tragedy in this movie is that at the heart of it is this unrequited love story, which is a very, almost adolescent kind of pain. But that pain is magnified by the pain of the catastrophe in the background. I was really, really moved by it. As soon as I was done heaving and sobbing I came into my office and I called Michael. I said, ‘I think I know what we should do next.’ Michael didn’t even blink. He just said, ‘OK, and we should probably base it on the book.’ So we got the book and that was it. It was our next project.”</p> <p><em>The Garden of the Finzi-Continis</em> is being given its world premiere by <a href="https://nycopera.com/shows/finzi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York City Opera</a> in conjunction with the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene beginning tonight and running through February 6th. It gives Gordon the opportunity to do his Italian opera.</p> <p>“It’s much more vocal than my other operas in terms of high flying vocal lines that are way more operatic. I have a lot of Verdi and Puccini and Bellini and Rossini swimming around inside me. A lot of times I write in a place bordering that fence between musical theater and opera. I would say <em>The Garden of Finzi-Continis</em> is definitely opera.<strong> </strong>I think of it as my Italian opera.”</p> <p>In terms of musical themes, the two families have distinctly different music.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Promo-photo-for-22The-Gardens-of-the-Finzi-Continis22-©Sarah-Shatz-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-15766" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Promo-photo-for-22The-Gardens-of-the-Finzi-Continis22-©Sarah-Shatz-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Promo-photo-for-22The-Gardens-of-the-Finzi-Continis22-©Sarah-Shatz-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Promo-photo-for-22The-Gardens-of-the-Finzi-Continis22-©Sarah-Shatz-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Promo-photo-for-22The-Gardens-of-the-Finzi-Continis22-©Sarah-Shatz-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Promo-photo-for-22The-Gardens-of-the-Finzi-Continis22-©Sarah-Shatz-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Promo-photo-for-22The-Gardens-of-the-Finzi-Continis22-©Sarah-Shatz-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Promo-photo-for-22The-Gardens-of-the-Finzi-Continis22-©Sarah-Shatz-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Promo-photo-for-22The-Gardens-of-the-Finzi-Continis22-©Sarah-Shatz-Courtesy-New-York-City-Opera.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Anthony Ciaramitaro as Giorgio and Rachel Blaustein as Micol in “The Garden of the Finzi-Continis” (Photo ©Sarah Shatz/Courtesy New York City Opera)</figcaption></figure></div> <p>“You feel that right away. The very first moment you meet young Young Micòl there’s almost this cloudy Baroque-y kind of sound. It suddenly becomes contrapuntal and floating in a way that is very unlike what we’ve heard before. Giorgio and the family is more sort of plodding and earthbound. Then all of a sudden Micòl has this sort of floating woodwind and then it starts. They start merging because they [Micòl and Giorgio] start merging.”</p> <p>In 1984, Bassani <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/a-writers-tomb-of-words-and-the-people-who-took-it-personally" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told an interviewer</a> that his novel was controversial because, “The real tragedy of the Italian Jews, and no one had ever actually said it, was that they ended up in Buchenwald and in Auschwitz even though they were, for the most part, convinced Fascists.” That very idea inspired Gordon and Korie to write one of the opera’s most moving arias.</p> <p>“It is embodied in Giorgio”s father who believes Mussolini is for the Jews and that this is going to all work for them. And he argues with his son throughout the opera. Until this very sad, poignant moment, both in the book, in the movie and in the opera, when finally Giorgio comes home after Micòl has spurned him and told him never to come back again.<em> </em>[His father] asks Giorgio how things are going with Micòl and Giorgio burst into tears ‘Leave me to die.’ And the father sings, ‘Let yourself die. At least you’re young enough to be reborn. I’m not.'”</p> <p>If this seems like the stuff of history books and nostalgia, think again.</p> <p>“It’s impossible for it not to be seen through a 2022 prism, even if it was a perfect period piece. There is nothing but the rise of anti-Semitism in the world right now. We need only put the story out there because the story itself is about what’s happening right now. NPR did this story two days ago about the rise of incidents of anti-Semitism. This story goes on.” Just three days after our conversation there was the attack on the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas.</p> <p>In 2008 Gordon did an interview with <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.playbill.com/article/20-plus-questions-with-composer-ricky-ian-gordon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Playbill</a></span> where he was asked to finish the sentence, “I never understood why…” He responded “…There is so much hatred in the world.” He hopes that this opera and his work might play a role in helping us become a more compassionate species.</p> <p>“I would like my work to be an emollient; something that opens people’s hearts. I would like whatever I pour from my heart into my work to have the effect of thawing the human heart. I feel like there’s a lot of ice, there’s a lot of frozen, there’s a lot of hardness. If art can be a thaw, if it can make people feel more united, if it can make people love one another more… When you create a work of art and all those people are sitting in a theater together, you have, for that moment in time, created community. So I would like that community to grow and I would like to be given a chance to be one of those people that is taking a great part in the healing of the human heart.”</p> <p>To watch the entire conversation with Ricky Ian Gordon, please go to Cultural Attaché’s YouTube channel <a href="https://youtu.be/tsKo6Tk162w" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>. It’s a provocative conversation with stories involving Lynn Nottage (with whom he’s written the opera <em><a href="https://www.lct.org/shows/intimate-apparel/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Intimate Apparel</a></em> which is in previews at Lincoln Center), the influence of <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/11/29/my-friend-steve-sondheim/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stephen Sondheim</a> on his career, politics in the United States and abroad and the opera companies that haven’t embraced his work…yet.</p> <p>Photo of Ricky Ian Gordon (Photo ©Sarah Shatz/Courtesy New York City Opera)</p> <p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/01/27/composer-ricky-ian-gordon-writes-his-italian-opera/">Composer Ricky Ian Gordon Writes His Italian Opera</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://culturalattache.co/2022/01/27/composer-ricky-ian-gordon-writes-his-italian-opera/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>LA Theatre Works Celebrates Black Voices</title> <link>https://culturalattache.co/2020/07/30/la-theatre-works-celebrates-black-voices/</link> <comments>https://culturalattache.co/2020/07/30/la-theatre-works-celebrates-black-voices/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 30 Jul 2020 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Streaming]]></category> <category><![CDATA[The Play's The Thing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[A Huey P. Newton Story]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Aja Naomi King]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Carl Lumbly]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Ceremonies in Dark Old Men]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Charlayne Woodard]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Daniel Breaker]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Dulé Hill]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Fabulation or the Re-Education of Undine]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Glynn Turman]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Judyann Elder]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Justin Bateman]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Katori Hall]]></category> <category><![CDATA[LA Theatre Works]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Larry Powell]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lonnie Elder III]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lydia Diamond]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lynn Nottage]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Michole Briana White]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Rocky Carroll]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Roger Guenveur Smith]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Saidah Arrika Ekulona]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Shirley Jo Finney]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Stick Fly]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Stuart K. Robinson]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Terrell Tilford]]></category> <category><![CDATA[The Mountaintop]]></category> <category><![CDATA[The Night Watcher]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Tinashe Kajese]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://culturalattache.co/?p=9932</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Los Angeles Theatre Works's Website<br /> <br /> Now - August 30</p> <p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2020/07/30/la-theatre-works-celebrates-black-voices/">LA Theatre Works Celebrates Black Voices</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>LA Theatre Works, a company that produces and distributes radio plays performed in front of a live audience, has made six plays written by African-American playwrights available for free listening through the end of August. All titles can be found on <a aria-label="undefined (opens in a new tab)" href="https://latw.org/black-voices" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LA Theatre Works’ website</a>. </p> <p>Each of the six titles represent plays that have received extensive productions worldwide. Amongst the playwrights are Obie Award and Pulitzer Prize winners and an Oscar nominee. In several of the LATW productions original cast members and creators return to the roles they originated.</p> <p>Here are the six plays LA Theatre Works is making available for free listening: </p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Roger-Guenveur-Smith-photo-by-Craig-Schwartz-Courtesy-of-LATW-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-9944" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Roger-Guenveur-Smith-photo-by-Craig-Schwartz-Courtesy-of-LATW-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Roger-Guenveur-Smith-photo-by-Craig-Schwartz-Courtesy-of-LATW-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Roger-Guenveur-Smith-photo-by-Craig-Schwartz-Courtesy-of-LATW-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Roger-Guenveur-Smith-photo-by-Craig-Schwartz-Courtesy-of-LATW-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Roger-Guenveur-Smith-photo-by-Craig-Schwartz-Courtesy-of-LATW-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Roger-Guenveur-Smith-photo-by-Craig-Schwartz-Courtesy-of-LATW-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Roger-Guenveur-Smith-photo-by-Craig-Schwartz-Courtesy-of-LATW-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Roger-Guenveur-Smith-photo-by-Craig-Schwartz-Courtesy-of-LATW.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Roger Guenveur Smith (Photo by Craig Schwartz/Courtesy of LATW)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong><em><a href="https://latw.org/title/huey-p-newton-story" target="_blank" aria-label="undefined (opens in a new tab)" rel="noreferrer noopener">A Huey P. Newton Story</a></em></strong> – Roger Guenveur Smith</p> <p><em>A Huey P. Newton Story</em> was performed at the Public Theatre in 1997. Smith starred and directed the show which he also wrote. He received a Special Citation from the Obie Awards for this play and his performance in it.</p> <p>Smith’s play is structured as a series of improvisations that were based on Newton’s own writings and words.</p> <p>Newton was one of the founders of the Black Panther Party. One of their primary goals was to monitor the behavior and practices of the police in Oakland, California. The organization was active for approximately 16 years with Newton serving as the Minister of Defense. </p> <p>A 1967 shooting that lead to the death of police officer John Frey also injured Newton. He was tried and convicted of manslaughter, but that conviction was overturned. Newton later faced two re-trials and was also tried twice for the murder of a seventeen-year-old girl and was implicated in another murder. In 1989 he was murdered in West Oakland.</p> <p>Smith is perhaps best known for his performances in six Spike Lee movies including <em>School Daze</em>, <em>Do the Right Thing</em> and <em>Malcom X</em>. He’s also appeared in such films as <em>Eve’s Bayou</em> and <em>Poetic Justice</em>. Lee made a film version of <em>A Huey P. Newton Play</em>.</p> <p>The LATW recording of <em>A Huey P. Newton Story</em> features Smith performing his play. He also directed.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Rocky-Carroll-and-Glynn-Turman-Photo-Courtesy-of-LATW-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-9945" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Rocky-Carroll-and-Glynn-Turman-Photo-Courtesy-of-LATW-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Rocky-Carroll-and-Glynn-Turman-Photo-Courtesy-of-LATW-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Rocky-Carroll-and-Glynn-Turman-Photo-Courtesy-of-LATW-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Rocky-Carroll-and-Glynn-Turman-Photo-Courtesy-of-LATW-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Rocky-Carroll-and-Glynn-Turman-Photo-Courtesy-of-LATW-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Rocky-Carroll-and-Glynn-Turman-Photo-Courtesy-of-LATW-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Rocky-Carroll-and-Glynn-Turman-Photo-Courtesy-of-LATW-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Rocky-Carroll-and-Glynn-Turman-Photo-Courtesy-of-LATW.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Rocky Carroll and Glynn Turman (Photo Courtesy of LATW)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><a href="https://latw.org/title/ceremonies-dark-old-men" target="_blank" aria-label="undefined (opens in a new tab)" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span><i style="font-weight: bold;">Ceremonies in </i><i><span style="font-weight: 600;">Dark</span></i></span> <strong><em>Old Men</em></strong></a> – Lonnie Elder III</p> <p>Elder’s play began its life in 1969 when it was produced by the Negro Ensemble Company at New York’s St. Mark’s Playhouse. It later transferred to the Pocket Theatre. <em>Ceremonies in Dark Old Men</em> was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, but lost to <em>The Great White Hope.</em></p> <p>The setting is a barber shop in Harlem. Russell B. Parker, a man who dreams of fame as a dancer, runs the failing barber shop. </p> <p>He is haunted by the ghost of his wife who passed away working herself to the bone to keep the family afloat. </p> <p>That responsibility now falls on Russell’s daughter, Adele, who is tired of doing everything. She threatens to shut down the barber shop unless her father and her two brothers start making themselves useful and bringing money into the house. It is when they think they’ve found the perfect solution to their problems that things go from bad to worse.</p> <p>Rocky Carroll and Glynn Turman (most recently seen in the film <em>The Way Back</em>) star in LATW’s radio play version of <em>Ceremonies in Dark Old Men</em>. Turman played Parker in a 2007 production at Atlanta’s True Colors Theatre in 2007. That production was directed by Tony Award-winner Kenny Leon.</p> <p>Elder, who appeared in the original Broadway production of <em>A Raisin in the Sun</em>, was also the first African American man to be nominated for an Academy Award for writing. He and Suzanne de Passe made history when they each received and Oscar nominations in 1973. He for <em>Sounder</em> and she for <em>Lady Sings the Blues</em>.</p> <p>Judyann Elder directed LATW’s production of <em>Ceremonies in Dark Old Men</em>. She appeared in the 1969 production of the play. She is the ex-wife of the playwright who died in 1996.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchinson-Courtesy-of-LATW-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-9946" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchinson-Courtesy-of-LATW-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchinson-Courtesy-of-LATW-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchinson-Courtesy-of-LATW-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchinson-Courtesy-of-LATW-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchinson-Courtesy-of-LATW-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchinson-Courtesy-of-LATW-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchinson-Courtesy-of-LATW-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchinson-Courtesy-of-LATW.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Charlayne Woodard (Photo by Derek Hutchison/Courtesy of LATW)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong><em><a href="https://latw.org/title/fabulation" target="_blank" aria-label="undefined (opens in a new tab)" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fabulation</a></em></strong> – Lynn Nottage</p> <p>The full title of Nottage’s 2004 play is <em>Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine</em>. The play had its premiere Off-Broadway at Playwright’s Horizon with Charlayne Woodard in the role of Undine, a very successful publicist who is forced to leave her job after her husband has run off with all her money.</p> <p>Undine has no choice but to go back to her Brooklyn home. Not only is she broke, but she’s also pregnant. The only people she can hope to count on are her working-class relatives she left behind to be a success in Manhattan.</p> <p>Joining Woodard in the LATW production are Daniel Breaker and Saidah Arrika Ekulona, both of whom were part of the 2004 production. Stuart K. Robinson directed for LATW.</p> <p>In Ben Brantley’s <span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Times</span> review <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/14/theater/theater-review-a-mighty-diva-s-humbling-fall-to-rough-roots-in-the-projects.html" target="_blank" aria-label="undefined (opens in a new tab)" rel="noreferrer noopener">he said</a>, “But while <em>Fabulation</em> may follow a much-traveled route to a guaranteed destination, the view along the way is far less predictable. In charting the social fall and moral rise of Undine Barnes Calles, nee Sharona Watkins, <em>Fabulation</em> subverts its comic and sentimental glibness with punchy social insights and the firecracker snap of unexpected humor.</p> <p>Nottage won the Obie Award for Best New American Play for <em>Fabulation</em>. She is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for her plays <em>Sweat </em> and <em>Ruined</em>.</p> <p>Woodard, most recently seen in the feature film <em>Glass</em> and on television in <em>Pose</em>, was a Tony Award nominee for her performance in <em>Ain’t Misbehavin’</em>. She’s also a two-time Obie Award winner. Amongst her five plays is <em>The Night Watcher</em>, which is also part of the radio plays LATW is making available. Details on that show are below.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Larry-Powell-and-Aja-Naomi-King-Photo-by-Matt-Petit-Courtesy-of-LATW-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-9947" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Larry-Powell-and-Aja-Naomi-King-Photo-by-Matt-Petit-Courtesy-of-LATW-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Larry-Powell-and-Aja-Naomi-King-Photo-by-Matt-Petit-Courtesy-of-LATW-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Larry-Powell-and-Aja-Naomi-King-Photo-by-Matt-Petit-Courtesy-of-LATW-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Larry-Powell-and-Aja-Naomi-King-Photo-by-Matt-Petit-Courtesy-of-LATW-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Larry-Powell-and-Aja-Naomi-King-Photo-by-Matt-Petit-Courtesy-of-LATW-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Larry-Powell-and-Aja-Naomi-King-Photo-by-Matt-Petit-Courtesy-of-LATW-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Larry-Powell-and-Aja-Naomi-King-Photo-by-Matt-Petit-Courtesy-of-LATW-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Larry-Powell-and-Aja-Naomi-King-Photo-by-Matt-Petit-Courtesy-of-LATW.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Larry Powell and Aja Naomi King (Photo by Matt Petit/Courtesy of LATW)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong><em><a href="https://latw.org/title/mountaintop" target="_blank" aria-label="undefined (opens in a new tab)" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Mountaintop</a></em></strong><em> </em>– Katori Hall</p> <p>Little is known about the last night Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spent at the Lorraine Motel in Atlanta before he was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Katori Hall has reimagined those events for her award-winning play.</p> <p>This two-character play finds King having a conversation with a mysterious maid who ultimately reveals to him that she is an angel who has come to take King to heaven.</p> <p>For a story about an American icon like King, it was surprising that Hall’s play had its world premiere in 2009 in London at a 65-seat theatre. <em>The Mountaintop</em> then transferred to the Trafalgar Studios on the West End where it was awarded the Olivier for Best New Play.</p> <p>Two years later the play had its Broadway premiere with Angela Bassett and Samuel L. Jackson. Kenny Leon directed the production.</p> <p>LATW recorded the production being made available in 2016. It stars Aja Naomi King and Larry Powell. Roger Guenveur Smith directed the production.</p> <p>In 2018 they toured a production of <em>The Mountaintop </em>starring Gilbert Glenn Brown and Karen Malina White to 38 cities in America.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-in-22The-Night-Watcher22-Photo-Courtesy-of-her-Website-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-9948" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-in-22The-Night-Watcher22-Photo-Courtesy-of-her-Website-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-in-22The-Night-Watcher22-Photo-Courtesy-of-her-Website-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-in-22The-Night-Watcher22-Photo-Courtesy-of-her-Website-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-in-22The-Night-Watcher22-Photo-Courtesy-of-her-Website-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-in-22The-Night-Watcher22-Photo-Courtesy-of-her-Website-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-in-22The-Night-Watcher22-Photo-Courtesy-of-her-Website-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-in-22The-Night-Watcher22-Photo-Courtesy-of-her-Website-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Charlayne-Woodard-in-22The-Night-Watcher22-Photo-Courtesy-of-her-Website.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Charlayne Woodard in “The Night Watcher” (Courtesy of her website)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong><em><a href="https://latw.org/title/night-watcher" target="_blank" aria-label="undefined (opens in a new tab)" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Night Watcher</a></em></strong> – Charlayne Woodard</p> <p>Charlayne Woodard wrote and stars in her one-person show <em>The Night Watcher</em>. In essence this is a story about a woman who chooses to live her life without having children. Over the course of the play she finds herself playing a mother role to several youngsters who are all having struggles of their own. This includes a pregnant teenager; a possibly racist niece; a child abused by her mother; a teenager girl who finds much older men paying attention to her and a nephew with problems with law enforcement.</p> <p><em>The Night Watcher</em> opened off-Broadway in a Primary Stages production in 2009. Daniel Sullivan directed the show.</p> <p>Charles Isherwood in his <span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Times</span> review <a aria-label="undefined (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/theater/reviews/07night.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said of Woodard</a>, “Ms. Woodard moves among the personalities in her stories with an ease born of experience, changing up the many colors in her rich voice and using her elegant limbs to add filigreed physical detail to the various portraits.”</p> <p>For the LATW radio play Stuart K. Robinson directed.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Terrell-Tilford-Carl-Lumbly-and-Dulé-Hill-perform-22Stick-Fly22-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchison-Courtesy-LATW-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-9949" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Terrell-Tilford-Carl-Lumbly-and-Dulé-Hill-perform-22Stick-Fly22-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchison-Courtesy-LATW-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Terrell-Tilford-Carl-Lumbly-and-Dulé-Hill-perform-22Stick-Fly22-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchison-Courtesy-LATW-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Terrell-Tilford-Carl-Lumbly-and-Dulé-Hill-perform-22Stick-Fly22-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchison-Courtesy-LATW-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Terrell-Tilford-Carl-Lumbly-and-Dulé-Hill-perform-22Stick-Fly22-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchison-Courtesy-LATW-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Terrell-Tilford-Carl-Lumbly-and-Dulé-Hill-perform-22Stick-Fly22-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchison-Courtesy-LATW-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Terrell-Tilford-Carl-Lumbly-and-Dulé-Hill-perform-22Stick-Fly22-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchison-Courtesy-LATW-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Terrell-Tilford-Carl-Lumbly-and-Dulé-Hill-perform-22Stick-Fly22-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchison-Courtesy-LATW-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Terrell-Tilford-Carl-Lumbly-and-Dulé-Hill-perform-22Stick-Fly22-Photo-by-Derek-Hutchison-Courtesy-LATW.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Terrell Tilford, Carl Lumbly and Dulé Hill (Photo by Derek Hutchison/Courtesy of LATW)</figcaption></figure></div> <p><strong><em><a href="https://latw.org/title/stick-fly" target="_blank" aria-label="undefined (opens in a new tab)" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stick Fly</a></em> </strong>– Lydia Diamond</p> <p>Lydia Diamond’s <em>Stick Fly</em> appeared on Broadway in 2011 and was directed by Kenny Leon. The cast featured Dulé Hill, Condola Rashad, Tracie Thomas, Mekhi Phifer, Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Rosie Benton.</p> <p><em>Stick Fly</em> tells the story of the LeVay family. They have done well in their lives and have become the first African-American family to live on Martha’s Vineyard. Money and success, however, cannot protect them from either issues of race and class nor family troubles. </p> <p>Diamond’s comedy-drama received positive reviews. Amongst them was Christopher Isherwood in the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Times</span>. He said of the play:</p> <p>“<em>Stick Fly</em>, a juicy family drama by Lydia R. Diamond, supplies enough simmering conflict, steamy romance and gasp-worthy revelations to satisfy just about anyone suffering withdrawal symptoms from the merciless soap slaughter that’s taken place over the last couple of years.</p> <p>“And yet this overstuffed but lively comedy-drama, which opened on Thursday night at the Cort Theater, also signifies a departure for Broadway in its depiction of generational conflict and sexual sparks among a well-to-do contemporary African-American family and friends. Pointed discussions of race and class erupt as often as testy personality clashes in Ms. Diamond’s play, set in an imposing manse on Martha’s Vineyard over a few fractious summer days.”</p> <p>For the LATW production, Hill returns and is joined by Justine Bateman, Tinashe Kajese, Carl Lumbly, Terrell Tilford and Michole Briana White. Shirley Jo Finney directed.</p> <p>Main photo: Dulé Hill and Michole Briana White (Photo by Derek Hutchison/Courtesy of LA Theatre Works)</p> <p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2020/07/30/la-theatre-works-celebrates-black-voices/">LA Theatre Works Celebrates Black Voices</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://culturalattache.co/2020/07/30/la-theatre-works-celebrates-black-voices/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>Sweat</title> <link>https://culturalattache.co/2018/09/03/sweat/</link> <comments>https://culturalattache.co/2018/09/03/sweat/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Mon, 03 Sep 2018 19:56:09 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category> <category><![CDATA[The Play's The Thing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[What's Hot]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lisa Peterson]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lynn Nottage]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Mark Taper Forum]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Pulitzer Prize]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Studs Terkel]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Sweat]]></category> <category><![CDATA[The Public Theatre]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://culturalattache.co/?p=3744</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Mark Taper Forum<br /> <br /> Now - October 7</p> <p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2018/09/03/sweat/">Sweat</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama went to Lynn Nottage’s <em>Sweat</em>. The play, about friends and co-workers facing an unstable working environment, has its official opening this week at the Mark Taper Forum. <a href="https://www.centertheatregroup.org/tickets/mark-taper-forum/2018-19/sweat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Sweat</em> </a>will run there through October 7th.</p> <p>In much the same way that Studs Terkel examined the lives of working men and women for <em>Working</em>, Nottage conducted countless interviews with the people of Reading, Pennsylvania – the setting for the play. Those interviews, combined with other research she did, formed the foundation of her play.</p> <p><figure id="attachment_3746" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3746" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-3746" src="http://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Sweat-2-300x169.jpg" alt="A searing drama from playwright Lynn Nottage" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Sweat-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Sweat-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Sweat-2-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Sweat-2-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Sweat-2-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Sweat-2-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Sweat-2.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3746" class="wp-caption-text">Portia and John Earl Jelks in “Sweat.” Photo by Craig Schwartz.</figcaption></figure></p> <p>In awarding Nottage the Pulitzer Prize, the committee said of <em>Sweat</em>, “For a nuanced yet powerful drama that reminds audiences of the stacked deck still facing workers searching for the American dream.” The other two finalists were <a href="http://culturalattache.co/2018/03/14/taylor-macs-24-hour-party-purpose/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Taylor Mac</a>‘s <em>A 24-Decade History of Popular Music</em> and Sarah DeLappe’s <em>The Wolves</em>.</p> <p> </p> <p><em>Sweat</em> played on Broadway at the Studio 54 Theatre after transferring from the Public Theatre and was nominated for three Tony Awards.</p> <p>The Los Angeles production is directed by Lisa Peterson. The cast includes Kevin T. Carroll, Grantham Coleman, Will Hochman, John Earl Jelks, Mary Mara, Peter Mendoza, Michael O’Keeefe, Amy Pietz and Portia. Jelks was part of the original Broadway cast.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2018/09/03/sweat/">Sweat</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://culturalattache.co/2018/09/03/sweat/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> </channel> </rss>