Producer Doug Claybourne and LaMama Hold Darfur Benefit
By: BWW News Desk Apr. 04, 2008
The idea of families in Darfur being torn apart, wives from husbands, children from mothers, deeply moved Hollywood film producer Doug Claybourne ("Nights in Rodanthe," "North Country," "Fast and the Furious," "The Mask of Zorro") and playwright L.D. Napier. Knowing that women and children were being raped and brutally killed as they go for firewood each night, stopped them cold. They were forced to ask themselves a hard question - "What can we do - just one individual?"
The answer led Claybourne to put his 28 year producing career on hold and Napier to write a play. Their purpose: To transform rhetoric into effective action, to raise awareness in the U.S. along with funds to support three personally chosen organizations which give no less than 90% of their funds to on the ground services of refugees. Lastly, to quote Brecht, "to use art as a hammer to drive people to act."
To that end, on April 27, Claybourne and Napier will kick off "Four Days for Darfur" with a Gala Fundraising event , including wine provided by Eleanor and Francis Coppola, hot appetizers, music and an auction with celebrity items. It all happens from 6:00 to 9:00pm at historic La MaMa's Galleria, 6 East First Street, New York City.
This will be followed for three nights only, April 28-30, with the New York premiere of "The G-Word: For Those Born Later." Written and directed by Napier, the play will be performed at the La MaMa Annex, 74 E. 4th St., and tells the history of genocide and its naming, interspersed with true stories from Darfurians. La MaMa has donated their space in the new Galleria as well as the Annex thanks to Ellen Stewart. All of Claybourne's creative team is working pro bono. This is an Actors Equity approved benefit.
100% of money raised from the "Four Days for Darfur" project will be donated to three organizations: Darfur Peace and Development - the umbrella for Darfur Schools for Peace and their new Women's Center which includes a rape crisis project; Genocide Intervention Network for support with their citizen protection program and Oxfam for food and water. These are U.S. based, IRS approved non-profits working to provide refugee services in Sudan and Chad.
Each night after the performance, a petition will be available to sign that has been developed with the Genocide Intervention Network with the goal of getting enough signatures to raise awareness, action and shape economic change in New York City policy toward divestment of our investments in the Sudan. Such economic policies could have great impact in stopping the genocide - very much like South Africa.
Tickets for the April 27 Gala Fundraiser and celebrity auction are $1000 per person ($900 deductible) and include a ticket to the premiere performance on April 28 of "The G-Word: For Those Born Later," followed by a post performance champagne reception.
Tickets for the April 28 opening night of the play, not including the fundraiser, are $50, with limited seating. Tickets for the April 29 and 30th performances are $30. Curtain for all performances is at 8:00pm.
Tickets for the play are available at La MaMa Box Office (212) 475-7710 or at www.Lamama.org. Fundraiser tickets are not available on line and may be ordered by sending a check or money order to FOR THOSE BORN LATER, 192 11th Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11215 (telephone) (718) 499-1345 or go to www.FORTHOSEBORNLATER.org with questions. E-mail or telephone confirmation on receipt for guest list at the door.
COMPLIMENTARY educational tickets for college students and faculty have been set aside for the April 29 and 30th performances. Student ID is required. Inquire online at www.FORTHOSEBORNLATER.org.
"We say 'never again,'" says Napier, "and yet, it is happening now. Most people are not aware that six million Jews had already been killed before the U.S. got involved during WWII. I grew up learning about the holocaust and wondering what I would have done had I been there. How could people have stood by? Then Rwanda happened. Bosnia happened. And I did nothing. In June 2005," continues Napier, "President Bush named the genocide in Darfur. What was I waiting for? That crucial moment when there is nothing left to do but regret?
"There are many on-going tragedies in the world, and this can be used as a justification to inaction. BUT...if it is genocide, are we not all responsible to stop it?"
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