BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY & Imagine Justice To Host Justice Nights on Broadway

Second Stage Theater will partner with Common and his not-for-profit, Imagine Justice, to host "Justice Nights On Broadway" following the matinee performances of Between Riverside and Crazy at The Hayes Theater on Saturday, February 11th and Saturday, February 18th 2023.

"Justice Nights on Broadway" will bring together 100 formerly incarcerated people, their families, and community advocates for a special Broadway experience. The performances will feature post-show talkbacks moderated by Sirius XM host and ABC News Contributor Mike Muse and featuring Common and Stephen McKinley Henderson, and will give audience members the opportunity to respond to seeing their stories shared on a Broadway stage, as well as a brief meet-and-greet with Common and guests following the talkback. Imagine Justice is also working with Second Stage and the League of Live Stream Theater to bring a simulcast of the performance to prison facilities."

Information on Second Stage's second annual Fair Chance Job Fair at The Hayes Theater will also be provided. The Fair will take place on April 17 and all employers involved have committed to not requiring a background check for employment. The performance will also feature a special call to action giving audience members the opportunity to support parole justice and clemency campaigns.

"Theater has been a life changing and enhancing experience. It's an experience I want to share. The Justice Nights are a very special coming together of people. It's a gift to bring together people who are formerly incarcerated and their families with the Broadway community. These are two worlds telling the complex stories of the work it takes to restore human lives," said Common. "Between Riverside and Crazy deals with characters (Junior and Oswaldo) who can actually help humanize people who were formerly incarcerated. And it's monumental to have people who have experienced this also be there to open our eyes to what is going on in the prison system. In the talkback we will bring light to the work that needs to be done for parole reform, like the Fair & Timely Parole Bill in New York and the Earned Re-Entry Bill in Illinois. We need to give people who have changed their lives a fair chance to return home and become fully part of society again."

In Between Riverside and Crazy, Oscar, Grammy, and Emmy Award-winner Common portrays the character Junior, a recently paroled son living with his ex-cop, widowed father Pops (Stephen McKinley Henderson) in his NYC rent-controlled apartment on Riverside Drive. The role reflects Common's commitment as both an artist and an activist to shift the national discussion on justice to one deeply rooted in humanity and compassion.

In 2018, Common founded Imagine Justice, a nonprofit organization to uplift currently & formerly incarcerated people with love, dignity and support. He has visited 13 prisons with 7 live performances as part of the "Hope & Redemption Tour." And in 2021, Common and Imagine Justice launched "Rebirth of Sound" - an accredited music program in Stateville Correctional Facility to provide residents with a high-quality recording studio and production training from experienced musicians. Common and Imagine Justice will support parole justice and clemency campaigns in New York so that incarcerated people who have transformed their lives have an opportunity to reunite with their families back home.

The Between Riverside and Crazy company features Victor Almanzar (Halfway Bitches Go Straight To Heaven), Elizabeth Canavan (Pipeline, Last Days of Judas Iscariot), Rosal Colón (A Free Man of Color, The Motherf***er with the Hat), Common (Selma), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Tony Award nominee for Fences, 2ST's Jitney), Maria-Christina Oliveras (Amelie, Hadestown), and Gary Perez (Motherf***er with the Hat).

City Hall is demanding more than his signature, the landlord wants him out, the liquor store is closed - and the Church won't leave him alone. For ex-cop and recent widower Walter "Pops" Washington (Henderson) and his recently paroled son Junior (Common), the struggle to hold on to one of the last great rent stabilized apartments on Riverside Drive collides with old wounds, sketchy new houseguests and a final ultimatum in this Pulitzer Prize-winning dark comedy from Stephen Adly Guirgis. For Pops and Junior, it seems the Old Days are dead and gone - after a lifetime living Between Riverside and Crazy.

The creative team for Between Riverside and Crazy includes scenic design by Walt Spangler, costume design by Alexis Forte, lighting design by Keith Parham, and sound design/original music by Ryan Rumery. Casting is by Telsey + Company.

Second Stage Theater 44th SEASON

Second Stage Theater's 44th Season kicked off last fall with Bess Wohl's new play, Camp Siegfried, directed by David Cromer. This spring, the season will continue with the new musical, White Girl in Danger, written by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winner Michael R. Jackson, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz and featuring choreography by Raja Feather Kelly. The musical, a co-production with Vineyard Theatre, will begin previews March 15th and open April 10th at the Kiser Theater. The season will conclude with an all-new production of Larissa FastHorse's The Thanksgiving Play, directed by Rachel Chavkin, beginning previews March 25th and officially opening on April 20th at the Hayes Theater.

ABOUT Second Stage Theater

Under the artistic direction of Carole Rothman, Second Stage Theater operates three New York City venues, exclusively dedicated to producing living American Playwrights.

Second Stage recently completed its 43rd season, which included the Tony Award-winning revival of Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out and the New York premiere production of Lynn Nottage's Tony-nominated play Clyde's, as well as the world premieres of Rajiv Joseph's Letters of Suresh and JC Lee's To My Girls. The company's 2021-22 productions received several nominations and awards, including Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Play (Take Me Out) and Best Featured Actor in a Play (Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Take Me Out); the Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Revival of a Play (Take Me Out), Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Take Me Out) and Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play (Uzo Aduba - Clyde's); the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Projection Design (Shawn Duan - Letters of Suresh); and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design for a Play (Jennifer Moeller - Clyde's).

Second Stage's first season on Broadway at The Hayes Theater included Lobby Hero by Kenneth Lonergan, directed by Trip Cullman (Tony nominee for Best Revival of Play, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role, Michael Cera and Brian Tyree Henry) and Straight White Men by Young Jean Lee, directed by Anna D. Shapiro.

Among Second Stage's 180 productions are the 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis; the 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey; the 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes; Mary Page Marlowe by Tracy Letts; The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown; Dogfight by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Peter Duchan; Dear Evan Hansen by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Steven Levenson; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage; Trust and Lonely, I'm Not by Paul Weitz; Grand Horizons by Bess Wohl; The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz; Everyday Rapture and Whorl Inside a Loop by Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott; Let Me Down Easy and Notes From the Field by Anna Deavere Smith; Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo; Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein; Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl; The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane; Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; Jitney by August Wilson; Crowns by Regina Taylor; Saturday Night by Stephen Sondheim; Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo's Greatest Hits by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy; This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan; Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe; A Soldier's Play by Charles Fuller; The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry; and Tiny Alice and Peter and Jerry by Edward Albee.

The company's more than 170 citations include six 2017 Tony Awards for Dear Evan Hansen (Best Musical; Best Lead Actor in a Musical, Ben Platt; Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Rachel Bay Jones; Best Book of a Musical; Best Original Score; Best Orchestrations); the 2009 Tony Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Musical (Alice Ripley, Next to Normal), Best Score (Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, Next to Normal), and Best Orchestrations (Tom Kitt and Michael Starobin, Next to Normal); the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed); the 2005 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (Rachel Sheinkin, ...Spelling Bee) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Fogler, ...Spelling Bee); the 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play (Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses); the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 29 Obie Awards, 11 Outer Critics Circle Awards, four Clarence Derwent Awards, 17 Drama Desk Awards, 11 Theatre World Awards, one Dorothy Louden Award, 20 Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Critics Circle Award and 23 AUDELCO Awards.

In 1999, Second Stage Theater opened The Tony Kiser Theater, its state-of-the-art, 296-seat theater, designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. In 2002, Second Stage launched "Second Stage Theater Uptown" to showcase the work of up-and-coming artists at the 99-seat McGinn/Cazale Theater. The Theater supports artists through several programs that include residencies, fellowships and commissions, and engages students and community members through education and outreach programs.

In 2018, Second Stage began producing at its 581 seat Broadway home, The Hayes Theater. Originally named "The Little Theater" and built in 1912, the city landmark has been remodeled by David Rockwell of Rockwell Group.

For more information, please visit www.2ST.com.