Dianne Dixon Joins Reading of HOW BLACK MOTHERS SAY I LOVE YOU

Award winning Jamaican actress Dianne Dixon will appear onstage at The Public Theater for the first time in a staged reading of Canadian playwright Trey Anthony's family drama How Black Mothers Say I Love You, under the direction of Tony Award winner Kenny Leon.

The reading will take place at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater on Thursday August 30 at 7pm.

Set in modern day Brooklyn, How Black Mothers Say I Love You explores the dynamic of a West Indian American family in crisis. A domestic emergency brings the family matriarch, Daphne, and her two daughters together under the same roof for the first time in years. Faced with life changing decisions and uncertain futures, the three women are forced to confront memories of the past, resentments of the present, and the opportunities to heal family wounds before it is too late.

The play was first produced at The Factory Theater in Toronto in May 2016, and toured regionally in Canada following a revival at the Factory in early 2017.

Dixon will play the role of Daphne, a former domestic housekeeper from Jamaica who emigrated overseas to seek better opportunities for herself and her family, leaving her two young daughters behind.

It is a situation which Dixon, born in Jamaica and raised in Brooklyn since adolescence, knows all too well.

"My own mom took a path very similar to Daphne's during my childhood where she went away to Canada to work for several years, and I couldn't accompany her," Dixon recalls. "It's never easy for young children to deal with that, no matter how good the parental intentions are. So to have the chance to explore a role and a family dynamic like this, which I know so well, and which is so brilliantly written by Trey, is like a homecoming for me. I'm eagerly looking forward to working with her and the incredible Kenny Leon to bring this story to life for this reading."

Dixon is a two time Audelco Award nominee and a past recipient of the New York City Council Award for Excellence in the Arts.

Her recent stage credits include the world premiere of the musical Falling In Love With Mr. Dellamort at The Slipper Room as well as Kenyan playwright Kenny Mann's epic poetry -drama Naisula at The John Drew Theater in East Hampton. She was also recently seen onscreen in a guest starring role in the Emmy award winning web series We Speak New York.

She is represented by David Heron of Sure Thing PR.

Kenny Leon is already regarded as one of the American theater's most prolific and accomplished directors. His Broadway credits include the 2004 revival of A Raisin in The Sun, August Wilson's Gem Of The Ocean, Katori Hall's The Mountaintop and the 2010 revival of Wilson's Fences which earned both Denzel Washington and Viola Davis Tony Awards for Best Actor and Actress in a Play.

He won the Tony Award for Best Director of a Play for the 2014 revival of A Raisin in The Sun starring Washington and LaTanya Richardson Jackson.

His television credits include Steel Magnolias for Lifetime TV as well as The Wiz Live! and Hairspray- Live! for NBC.

Trey Anthony is an award winning, Canadian based playwright, actor and producer, best known for her critically acclaimed play and television series Da Kink in My Hair. The play was the winner of four NAACP Image Awards and the subsequent television series based on the play aired from 2007 to 2009 in Canada, making Anthony the first ever African Canadian woman to write and produce a television series for a major Canadian network. She founded her company, The Trey Anthony Studios to produce television and theater for urban audiences.

Tickets for the staged reading of How Black Mothers Say I Love You are $20 in advance or $25 at the door.

Ticket details are available at joespub.publictheater.org or by calling 212-539-8778.

Joes Pub is located at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, New York, NY, 10003.

See also: - https://joespub.publictheater.org/

 

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