Andre De Shields Helms THE SOVEREIGN STATE OF BOOGEDY BOOGEDY for Negro Ensemble Company, 2/14

Imagine an episode of Law & Dis-Order SV EWWWW! Double Lippin' and entenDRÉ flippin' with Flavor Flav, Judge Judy, Angela Davis and the Mad Hatter!  All this and more can be found in a one-time only reading of THE SOVEREIGN STATE OF BOOGEDY BOOGEDY presented by The Negro Ensemble Company on Valentine's Day, Monday, February 14, 7:00 PM at the June Havoc Theatre, at the Abingdon Theatre Complex at 312 West 36 Street, 2nd floor.  Tickets are $10 and can be reserved by calling 212-582-5860.

Written by Lonnie Carter and directed by André De Shields, THE SOVEREIGN STATE OF BOOGEDY BOOGEDY features Forrest McClendon (of Broadway's Scottsboro Boys), Gillian Glasco (of the New Federal Theatre's hit Knock Me A Kiss), Sean Phillips (of the New Federal Theatre's hit Knock Me A Kiss), Alexander Elisa (Classical Theatre of Harlem's Ain't Supposed to Die A Natural Death), Roenia Thompson (of Blues in the Night regional tour) and André De Shields.
 
Lonnie Carter's play The Romance of Magno Rubio won 8 Obies for its Ma-Yi Theater production in 2003.  A recent work The Lost Boys of Sudan was produced at the Childrens' Theater Company in 2007 and Victory Gardens in Chicago in 2010.  He teaches in the Dramatic Writing Program in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.  He is a Guggenheim Fellow, twice a Fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts, an alumnus of New Dramatists and The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis and one of the founding members of the Victory Gardens Playwrights' Ensemble.  In a much earlier version The Sovereign State of Boogedy Boogedy was read at the NEC with Douglas Turner Ward reading the role of Shadrach.  It was subsequently produced at Victory Gardens and then Woodie King, Jr's New Federal Theater with André De Shields playing the role of Nebuchadnezzar.
 
 In a career spanning more than forty years, André De Shields has distinguished himself as an unparalleled actor, director, writer and educator. He is the recipient of the 2009 National Black Theatre Festival Living Legend Award, and the 2007 Village Voice OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence of Performance. Mr. De Shields is a multiple Tony Award nominee, and the author of the solo performance, MINE EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY: Frederick Douglass.  He is best known for his show stopping performances in the original Broadway productions of four legendary musicals: The Full Monty (Noah "Horse" T. Simmons), Play On! (Jester), Ain't Misbehavin' (The Viper) and the title role in The Wiz.   Currently, he can be seen as the character Old Banks in the Red Bull Theater production of The Witch of Edmonton.  A triple Capricorn, he is the ninth of eleven children born and reared in Baltimore, Maryland.   Namaste!  www.andredeshields.com.  

The mission of the Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. (NEC) is to provide African-American, African and Caribbean professional artists with an opportunity to learn, to work, to grow and to be nurtured in the performing arts. The overall mission of the NEC is to present live theatre performances by and about black people to a culturally diverse audience that is often underserved by the theatrical community.

Photo By Lia Chang