News
June 3, 2022Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY 2022-2023 season
The Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate New York was originally founded as Soul Rebel Performance Troupe in November 2009 by veteran actor Jean-Remy Monnay as a not-for-profit organization to foster understanding, appreciation and participation of the performing arts among communities of color. Headquartered in New York State’s Capital Region, Black Theatre Troupe promotes performance and theatrical pieces by, and about, artists of color.
Go to: https://capitalrep.org/ for ticketing info
FLYIN’ WEST by Pearl Cleage
August 25 – 28, 2022
GE Theatre at Proctors
432 State Street, Schenectady NY 12305
“Facing problems ranging from the inevitability of long, cold winters, to the possibility of domestic violence, to the continuing spectra of racial conflict, the women of FLYIN’ WEST include Miss Leah, the old woman whose memories of slavery and its aftermath comprise a living oral history; Sophie Washington, whose determination to protect her land and those she loves puts to rest forever the requirement that western archetypes be white and male; Fannie Mae Dove, the gentle sister, trying to bring in new cultural influences with fine china and roses, who finds herself falling in love with their soft-spoken neighbor, Wil Parish; and Minnie Dove Charles, the headstrong baby sister whose mulatto husband, Frank, introduces a danger into the household that tests their sisterhood in unexpected ways.” https://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=784
KNOCK ME A KISS by Charles Smith
October 28 – November 6, 2022
Lauren and Harold Iselin Studio at theREP
251 N Pearl Street, Albany, NY 12207
“Knock Me a Kiss is a fictional account inspired by the actual events surrounding the 1928 marriage of W.E.B. Du Bois’ daughter Yolande to one of Harlem’s great poets, Countee Cullen. The marriage marked the height of the Harlem Renaissance and was viewed as the perfect union of Negro talent and beauty. It united the daughter of America’s foremost black intellectual, co-founder of the NAACP and publisher of Crisis Magazine, with a poet whose work was considered to be one of the flagships for the New Negro movement. The play opens as jazz bandleader, Jimmy Lunceford continues his pursuit of a willing but apprehensive Yolande. She demurs, insisting that she and Jimmy be married in a manner consistent with her stature. Meanwhile, Du Bois tries to convince Cullen to take a wife of great breeding, stature and education. When Countee realizes that Yolande possesses all of the attributes outlined by the elder Du Bois, he sets out to win her affection. When Yolande is forced to choose between her passion for Jimmy and marrying Countee, her devotion to her father overwhelms her heart. The marriage is a triumph of pomp and pageantry but fails to be a union of man and woman. Eventually Countee goes to Paris with his close friend Harold Jackman, and Yolande returns to Jimmy only to find that she is no longer wanted.” https://www.dramaticpublishing.com/browse/knock-me-a-kiss
TOPDOG/UNDERDOG by Suzan-Lori Parks
March 2 – 12, 2023
MainStage at theREP
251 N Pearl Street, Albany, NY 12207
“A darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity is Suzan-Lori Parks’ latest riff on the way we are defined by history. The play tells the story of Lincoln and Booth, two brothers whose names were given to them as a joke, foretelling a lifetime of sibling rivalry and resentment. Haunted by the past, the brothers are forced to confront the shattering reality of their future.” https://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=3263
Topdog/Underdog tells the story of two brothers, Lincoln and Booth, who, abandoned by first one parent and then the other, have had to depend upon each other for survival since they were teenagers. Now in their thirties, the brothers struggle to make a new life, one that will lead them out of poverty. Lincoln, a master of the con game three-card monte, has abandoned a life of crime for a more respectable job impersonating Abraham Lincoln at an arcade. Booth, on the other hand, earns his living as a petty thief, one who wishes to emulate his older brother’s success by learning how to “throw the cards.” Throughout the play, the brothers compete against each other, vying for control. At any given moment, one may yield power over the other, only to relinquish it in the next. Hence, Topdog/Underdog reveals a topsy-turvy world in which Lincoln and Booth live, a chaotic world that is as dangerous as it is illusory.” https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/topdogunderdog
HOODOO LOVE by Katori Hall
June 1 – 11, 2023
Lauren and Harold Iselin Studio at theREP
251 N Pearl Street, Albany, NY 12207
“A tale of love, magic, jealousy and secrets. Toulou escapes from the Mississippi cotton fields in the 1930s to pursue her dream of singing the blues in Memphis. When she meets a rambling blues man, the notorious Ace of Spades, her dreams are realized in a way she could never have imagined. Written in vivid language that captures the blues, Hoodoo Love is a major debut.”
https://www.katorihall.com/hoodoo-love
