Keegan Theatre to stage ‘N,’ a drama about first Black actor on Broadway
A impressive historic drama prepared by a descendant of its major character — a popular Black actor — will have its regional premiere October 23, 2021, as the 2nd creation of The Keegan Theatre’s 25th Anniversary Period. The enjoy is titled N — as in the N-word. Accompanying the creation, Keegan has prepared some precisely anti-racist programming.
“One hundred many years back, prolific American playwright Eugene O’Neill’s expressionistic perform The Emperor Jones induced a flurry in the theater scene and launched actor Charles S. Gilpin to stardom,” creation director Nadia Guevara describes. “He manufactured a splash as the 1st African American actor on Broadway as Brutus Jones in The Emperor Jones — a role that broke him out of the stereotypes of the time even though also nevertheless trapping him in cliches and, significantly to his torment, the repeated use of the N-term.
“Adrienne Earle Pender, playwright and descendant of Charles Gilpin, offers us a glimpse of what the dynamic amongst this prolific playwright and singular actor could have been even though offering us, theater makers and theater fans, the prospect to interrogate our theatrical inheritance and imagine about our legacies.
“What is your legacy?” Guevara proceeds. “When do we communicate up? What is the cost of carrying out so? Sign up for us for this tennis match of a participate in.”
The forged of N options Kevin Thorne (Charles), Lolita Marie (Florence), and Jared Graham (Eugene). N is directed by Nadia Guevara. The artistic crew features Paris Francesca (Costume Designer), Venus Gulbranson (Lighting Designer), Solomon HaileSelassie (Phase Supervisor), Cresent Haynes (Sound Designer), Cindy Landrum Jacobs (Set Dressing and Qualities Designer), Matthew J. Keenan (Set Designer and Master Carpenter), Otis Cortez Ramsey-Zoe (Dramaturg), and Colin Smith (Production Supervisor).
N operates from Oct 23 through November 20, 2021, at the Keegan Theatre – 1742 Church Road, NW, Washington DC. For tickets ($55, standard $45, students and seniors), connect with the box office environment at (202) 265-3767 or go on line.
To understand about the Keegan Theatre’s policies and procedures all over keeping patrons, artists, and team risk-free and healthy this period, check out their Wellness & Basic safety page.
The run of N incorporates two special viewers engagement activities. Next the matinee on Sunday, November 7, audiences are invited to a particular moderated talkback with members of the solid and creative group. Then, pursuing the matinee on Sunday, November 14, the Challenging Racism crew will aid a specific write-up-present dialogue about “The Intersection of Race & Theater/Artwork,” specifically curated to establish on the themes offered in N and enrich the viewers knowledge of the engage in.
Complicated Racism is an Arlington group that provides training on the prevalence and inequities of institutional and systemic racism, and Keegan is honored to be partnering with them to enrich each artist and audience ordeals with Keegan productions all through the 2021–2022 period. Understand additional about Keegan’s audience engagement situations at keegantheatre.com and at the theater — viewers instruction and outreach materials will be out there on the web and in the lobby in the course of the run of the exhibit.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Adrienne Earle Pender began her creating profession in 2001. Her initially play, The Rocker, was a finalist in the Dayton Playhouse Upcoming Fest 2002 Competition of New Performs in Dayton, Ohio. The Rocker built its world premiere in February 2004 at Theater in the Park in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her participate in Stone Encounter was a collection in the Reader’s Theater at the 2003 National Black Theater Festival and was an alternate collection for the 2004 Edward Albee 12th Yearly Past Frontier Theatre Meeting in Valdez, Alaska. Her shorter enjoy The Murder of Love was picked for the Quick Play Lab at the exact same meeting. Also, Banana Break up Lady made its debut at the 1st Annual Great Plains Theatre Meeting in Nebraska. Her perform Somewhere in Concerning had a staged studying at the Drama Guide Store in New York in 2010 a staged studying at Wordsmyth Theater in Houston in Could 2014 and acquired a full manufacturing from Theater in the Park in Raleigh in September 2014.
Her most new perform, N, about African American actor Charles S. Gilpin, was a finalist in the Dayton Playhouse 2016 Future Fest levels of competition. N obtained a workshop and a staged looking through at the Eugene O’Neill Pageant in Danville, Connecticut, in September 2016, and made its globe premiere in February 2017 at Theatre in the Park in Raleigh.
Adrienne acquired a Tao Residence Fellowship from the Eugene O’Neill Basis in September 2015. She retains an MFA in Creative Crafting from Wilkes University and is a member of the Dramatist Guild.
