LaMaMa to Present Reese's 'Split Ends,' Feb. 1-11

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club will present the NY Premiere of Split Ends, a multi-media, multidisciplinary solo performance piece written and performed by Dr. Venus Opal Reese, and directed by Liesl Tommy. Performances will run from February 1-11, 2007 in a limited engagement at La MaMa E.T.C. (74A East 4 St.) in NYC.

"Split Ends is built around the fascinating history of black women's hair and incorporates video, song, movement, mime and case studies compiled during one hundred interviews with American women of African ancestry. Split Ends boldly, humorously and fearlessly explores how our hair has been and continues to be both our burden and our liberation, our barrier and our connection, our cross and our salvation. According to Dr. Reese, hair connects with culture and politics, whether as an attempt to conform or as a way to declare a revolution. 'Some people know wine. I pay attention to hair. I've spent a long time looking at identity formation through hair.,'" press materials state.

Reese is an award winning solo performer, playwright, director, choreographer and poet. She appeared in the U.S. premiere of Will Power's The Seven in San Francisco and in subsequent performances at P.S. 122 in NY. The Seven was featured in American Theatre Magazine and won 3 Critic's Choice Awards.  Reese has trained and worked with Anna Deveare Smith and has studied acting with Vanessa Redgrave, mime with Marcel Marceau and dance with Gregory Hines and Judith Jamison, among others.  Reese is presently on the tenure track as an Assistant Professor of Aesthetic Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Tommy, originally from Cape Town, South Africa, has directed for The Public Theatre's New Works Now, New York Theater Workshop, Juilliard, and The Women's Project, among others.

Performances run Fridays and Saturdays at 10pm and Sundays at 5:30pm with an added performance on Thursday, Feb. 1. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors and students with valid ID and can be purchased by calling 212-475-7710 or visiting www.lamama.org. Running time is 80 minutes with no intermission.  The show is appropriate for ages 14 and up.

For more information on Reese, visit http://opal.utdallas.edu.

Photo of Venus Opal Reese courtesy of The Black Academy of Arts and Letters, Dallas, TX