Photo Flash: STICK FLY Team Visits Martha's Vineyard

On Sunday, August 14th, playwright Lydia R. Diamond, director Kenny Leon & producer Reuben Cannon were toasted on Martha's Vineyard in celebration of the Broadway premiere of Diamond's play STICK FLY, which is set in a Martha's Vineyard mansion. The event took place at the home of investment banker Valerie Mosley who co-hosts with entertainment lawyer Lisa E. Davis, former NASA astronaut and the first African American to walk on the moon Dr. Bernard A. Harris, Jr., former UN Ambassador Andrew Young, journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault and American human rights advocate Martin Luther King III.

Produced by Alicia Keys, Reuben Cannon & Nelle Nugent, the Broadway premiere of Lydia R. Diamond's STICK FLY, directed by Kenny Leon, will play at the Cort Theatre (138 West 48th Street). STICK FLY will open on Broadway on Thursday, December 8, 2011 with performances beginning on Friday, November 18, 2011. Tickets are now on sale through Telecharge.com.

It was supposed to be a relaxing weekend at the family home on Martha's Vineyard... until the baggage got unpacked. Set at the elegant summer home of the well-to-do LeVay family, STICK FLY begins when two adult sons bring their significant others (one a fiancée, the other a new girlfriend) home to meet their parents for the first time. Soon, secrets are revealed, civilities are dropped and identities are explored in a harsh new light. Race and rivalry, class and family, all come together for an explosive comedy of manners about today's complex world.

STICK FLY was developed in a recent co-production last year between the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston and Arena Stage in Washington D.C. The play had its world premiere at Chicago's Congo Square Theatre Company in 2006 and was subsequently performed at theatres including the McCarter Theatre in 2007 and the Matrix Theatre Company in Los Angeles in 2009. STICK FLY is the recipient of 2011 Independent Reviewers of New England Awards for Best Play and Best Director of a Drama (Kenny Leon); 2010 LA Drama Critics Circle Awards for Best Production, Best Direction and Best Ensemble Performance; a 2010 LA Garland Award for Playwriting; a 2009 LA Weekly Theatre Award for Playwriting; and, the 2006 Black Theatre Alliance Award for Best New Play. It was also a 2008 Susan Blackburn Prize finalist and a nominee for the 2006 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work.

Casting, creative team, and additional production information will be announced soon. Tickets are available by calling Telecharge.com at (212) 239-6200, (800) 432-7250 outside the NY metro area, or online at Telecharge.com. For more information, visit www.StickFlyBroadway.com.

Photo Credit: Debbie Grant Photography