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Musical Adaptation of Novel LONG WAY DOWN and More in the Works From New Production Company
The company will focus on supporting works by marginalized people, including the BIPOC and LBGTQIA+ communities and female artists.
By: Stephi Wild Sep. 20, 2023
Tony Award-winning producer Dale A. Mott (A Strange Loop, The Piano Lesson, Thoughts of a Colored Man) and real estate investor and cultural arts philanthropist Charles D. Urstadt have announced their new multimedia production company, Edgewood Entertainment. Edgewood is a producing entity focused on supporting works by historically marginalized people, including the BIPOC and LBGTQIA+ communities, female artists, and other stories not often told on stage. Mott and Urstadt both serve as Producer and Managing Director of the new entity.
Edgewood Entertainment comes from Mott and Urstadt’s mutual desire to help create work that aligns with their core values of bringing equity and integrity to the entertainment world and empowering communities that have been traditionally underserved.
Mott and Urstadt’s appreciation for complex storytelling and their combined business acumen make their new endeavor a vital collaboration for the development of new work.
Mott has been a producer on the Broadway productions of A Strange Loop (Tony Award, Best Musical), August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, New York, New York, Thoughts of a Colored Man, and The Lifespan of a Fact. Urstadt has over 40 years of experience in the real estate business, recently serving as chairman of the board of directors of Urstadt Biddle Properties, Inc, a real estate investment trust traded on the New York Stock Exchange. He has long been a supporter of performing and visual arts and cultural causes.
Edgewood’s current projects as lead producers all demonstrate the company’s commitment to BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ stories. Their slate includes the new musicals Gun & Powder, based on the real-life story of African American twin sisters Mary and Martha Clarke, Long Way Down, based on the award-winning novel by Jason Reynolds, Nolan Williams, Jr. and Nikkole Salter’s original musical Grace, Sam Morrison’s acclaimed autobiographical solo play Sugar Daddy, and Dominican American playwright Erlina Ortiz’s play La Egoista.
“We are truly thrilled to bring our unique perspectives and experiences to this new venture together,” commented Mott. ‘To be able to focus on stories that we believe in that will inspire and uplift audiences is a dream.”
Urstadt shares “I have been a longtime supporter of theater, so I am truly grateful for this opportunity to work with my friend Dale on Edgewood Entertainment. The stories that we will tell deserve to be heard. I’m excited for this new chapter in an industry that I love.”
New works from Edgewood Entertainment
Gun & Powder, produced in association with P3 Productions, is a powerful new musical inspired by the true story of Mary and Martha Clarke, African American twin sisters who, passing as white in 1893 Texas, take extraordinary measures to settle their mother’s sharecropper debt and save her home. Directed by Stevie Walker-Webb, this new musical examines race, family, and identity with two electrifying women who transformed from farm girls to outlaws to legends. Gun & Powder will be presented April 4-May 5, 2024, at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ.
Long Way Down, produced in association with TheaterWorksUSA, is based on the best-selling award-winning book by Jason Reynolds, with book and lyrics by Dahlak Braithwaite and Khiyon Hursey and direction by Ken-Matt Martin. The new musical mixes classic and contemporary hip-hop with R&B and explores remorse, retribution, and redemption. Long Way Down will have invited presentations at The Apollo on October 27 and 28, 2023, followed by a rolling world premiere at the Olney Theatre Center in Olney, MD (May 22-June 23, 2024), and The Apollo's Victoria Theater in New York (October 2024, with dates to be confirmed).
Sugar Daddy, which received 2023 Outer Critics Circle Award and Off-Broadway Alliance nominations for its critically acclaimed limited engagement at SoHo Playhouse, follows comedian Sam Morrison as he meets his later partner at a gay bear festival and finds hope and humor in grief after his passing. Sam masterfully toes the line between comedy and tragedy, taking the audience on a journey of love, loss, diabetes, seagull attacks, and a few extraordinary coincidences.
La Egoista comes from Dominican American playwright, performer, and theatremaker Erlina Ortiz, who shares a universally familiar story of the bond among siblings, the cost of caregiving, and the hilariously fine line between selfish and selfless. La Egoista premiered earlier this year at Actors Theatre of Louisville followed by a West Coast premiere at Skylight Theatre in Los Angeles. La Egoista is being further developed with direction by acclaimed Puerto Rican director Tatyana-Marie Carlo.
Grace, produced with NEWorks Productions, is an electrifying new musical feast celebrating the perseverance of family and the value of cultural preservation. The production played its world premiere at the historic Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., in 2022 where it won 11 BroadwayWorld Regional Awards. A new version of Grace was recently workshopped at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, FL.
Photo Credit: Sam Birdsong
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