The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center (FAC) FAC honors Black History Month with one of American theatre's most timeless and touching plays, Driving Miss Daisy, written by Alfred Uhry and directed by Producing Artistic Director, Scott RC Levy. In performance from February 4-21. With humor and heartfelt emotion, Uhry's Pulitzer Prize?winning play poignantly explores the transformative power of true friendship.
This production, appropriate for ages ten and up, is set in Atlanta, Georgia from 1948 to 1973. When Daisy Werthan causes a car wreck, her son hires hard?working chauffeur, Hoke Colburn, to look after her. What begins as a hostile clashing of wills between a stubborn Jewish matriarch and a proud African? American man evolves into a decades?long friendship as the two navigate Civil Rights?era Atlanta. In celebration of Black History Month, this play showcases the issues of race and civil rights and the role of African?Americans in U.S. history.
"A heartwarming tale about the manner in which two people of goodwill cross the deep ravines of cultural borders and come to an understanding and respect for each other." ?The New York Times
Driving Miss Daisy was written by Alfred Uhry in 1987and won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Outer Critics Circle Award. The play was then turned into a movie in 1989 starring Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman, and Dan Aykroyd and won four Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Actress for Tandy.
Billie McBride (Daisy) is pleased to be back at the FAC. She was last seen at the FAC as Vera in 4000 Miles. Billie spent 20 years in NYC prior to moving to Colorado. Her Broadway credits include Torch Song Trilogy (Helen Hayes) and Safe Sex (Lyceum). Since moving to Colorado she has received numerous awards and has worked at The Denver Center in The Giver and Benediction, The Arvada Center in The Women, Cabaret, The Importance of Being Earnest, Moon Over Buffalo, Picnic, To Kill A Mockingbird and The Full Monty. Other theaters include And Toto Too, The Pluss at the JCC, TheatreWorks, The Barth Hotel, The Cherry Creek Theatre, Miners Alley Playhouse, and BETC in Boulder. Billie is also a
director and is a proud member of Actor's Equity Association.
Joseph W. Lane (Hoke) has appeared in productions both nationally and regionally including A House with No Walls at Florida Stage, The Carer (One man show) at Essential Theatre, A Christmas Carol at Penobscot Theatre, Little Foxes at Shakespeare Theatre, Macbeth at Longacre Lea Theatre, To Kill a Mockingbird at Olney Theatre and Penobscot Theatre, Culture Clash? DC at Arena Stage, among others. He has appeared on TV on NBC's Homicide ?Life on the Streets, CBS's Hack and HBO's The Wire. He also appeared in Below the Beltway as Rev. Matthews which broadcast on Showtime. He is a proud member of Actor Equity Association and SAG?AFTRA.
Steve Emily (Boolie) transplant from Chicago, has worked with such acclaimed theatre companies as Steppenwolf, Lookingglass, Northlight, Steep, American Blues and many more. Since moving to Colorado, Steve has also appeared with Theatreworks, StarBar, Springs Ensemble Theatre and the FAC. In addition, Steve has appeared in numerous commercials, the television series In Plain Sight, America's Most Wanted, and the film Woodshop. Steve's short play The Temp was recently produced at Little Fish Theatre in Los Angeles.
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