Soho Rep. and The Play Company, in association with John Adrian Selzer, announce casting and the creative team for the U.S. premiere of debbie tucker green's generations. The production, September 30-October 26, reunites the playwright with director Leah C. Gardiner, who worked together on the OBIE Award-winning 2011 production of born bad. generations features a 12-person community chorus led by music director Bongi Duma (The Lion King). The cast includes Shyko Amos (An Octoroon), Mamoudou Athie, Khail Toi Bryant (The Lion King), Ntombikhona Dlamini (Sarafina!), Thuli Dumakude (The Lion King, Poppie Nongena), Jonathan Peck (The Lion in Winter) and Michael Rogers (born bad, Breakfast With Mugabe).
In generations, audiences are invited into a kitchen in a South African township where a fragrant meal is being prepared. As they cook, three generations of a close-knit family banter and share stories and food. Both urgent and exuberant, green's formally daring play tackles what's transmitted and lost through generations of a family-and a nation. Join us after every performance to share South African drink, music, and food from Madiba Restaurant.
Performances of generations will take place September 30-October 26 (see schedule above) at
Soho Rep. Critics are welcome as of Wednesday, October 8 for an official opening of Sunday, October 12 at 7:30pm.
Soho Rep. is located at 46 Walker Street in Manhattan. General admission tickets are $35 and can be purchased by visiting sohorep.org or playco.org, or calling 212.352.3101. $0.99 Sunday tickets will be offered on October 6 at 7:30pm and October 19 at 4pm and are available first come, first served at the box office only. $30 general rush and $20 student rush (valid school ID) tickets are available at the box office one hour prior to curtain for each performance, no advance sales.
The South African community chorus features Vuyelwa Booi, Comfort Hlophe, Sduduzo Ka-Mbili, Kevin Moeti, Sphamandla Mthembu, Reitumetse Rita Motlhanka, Sphiwe Moyo, Thakabasadi Sato, Slindile Sokutu, Vuyo Sotashe and Tanyaradzwa A. Tawengwa, along with one additional singer.
The creative team includes
Arnulfo Maldonado (set),
Matt Frey (lights),
Matt Tierney (sound), Ásta Bennie Hostetter (costumes), Greg Kozatek & George Hoffmann (props and set dressing), Geoff Boronda (stage manager) and Raphael Martin & Chip Rodgers (associate producers).
About the Artists
debbie tucker green (Playwright) For
Soho Rep.: The U.S. premiere of born bad, for which she won a 2011 Obie award for playwriting. UK writing/directing credits include nut (
Royal National Theatre - Shed) and truth and reconciliation (
Royal Court Theatre). Select UK playwriting credits include random (
Royal Court Theatre); generations (Young Vic); trade (RSC New Work Festival - Stratford); stoning mary (
Royal Court Theatre Downstairs); born bad (Hampstead Theatre); dirty butterfly (Soho Theatre). TV/Film: second coming (Writer/Director); random (Writer/Director), which won a 2012 Bafta Award for Best Single Drama; heat (Writer/Director); and spoil (Writer). Radio credits include: gone, random, handprint and freefall (BBC Radio 3); to swallow (BBC Radio 4).
Leah C. Gardiner (Director) For
Soho Rep.: The U.S. premiere of debbie tucker green's born bad, for which she won a 2011 Obie award for direction. Recent New York credits include The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (
Atlantic Theater Company); Kent, CT (Zipper Theater); The Ghost of Enoch Charlton, (
Keen Company); Bulrusher (Urban Stages, World Premiere and Pulitzer finalist). National credits include: Antony and Cleopatra, Othello (Houston Shakespeare Festival); By the Way Meet Vera Stark (Alliance Theater); Fences (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Sucker Punch (
Studio Theatre, U.S. Premiere); Clementine in the Lower Nine (TheatreWorks, World Premiere); The Last Five Years (Crossroads Theatre); Streetcar Named Desire (Pillsbury House Theatre); Piano Lesson (Madison Rep); Blue Door (
South Coast Repertory, World Premiere and Pulitzer finalist); Topdog/Underdog (
Philadelphia Theatre Company); Birdie Blue (City Theatre); Orange Flower Water (Contemporary American Theatre Festival, World Premiere); The Flag Maker of Market Street (World Premiere,
Alabama Shakespeare Festival); Angels in America, Parts I and II (Connecticut Repertory Theatre); (Re-staging Director) Broadway's The Normal Heart (
Arena Stage,
American Conservatory Theater); National Tour, Wit (Kennedy Center, Ordway, among others). Select film directing credits include: Cultures Collide (Sony Entertainment); The Belle of New Orleans (Alliance Theater). Leah was a producer on the Sundance Festival award-winning film Mother of George. MFA in Directing from the Yale School of Drama.
Bongi Duma (
Music Director) Broadway performance credits include The Lion King (2001-present). Musical Direction: Sheila's Day (
Lincoln Center Theater). Duma was composer, music director, and choreographer for The Mighty Zulu Nation and Africa Africa (Storey Productions - UCA Productions). His film credits include bring songwriter and vocal arranger for the soundtrack to the Jamaican Rasta documentary Bad Friday (2013). Bongi music-directed an African music performance for the Queen at Westminster Abbey for the Commonwealth Conference in 2000 and a South African performance at the Bambi Awards in Hamburg, Germany in 2002. He is a composer and performing artist at
Carnegie Hall's annual kids concert series Music Explorers. He is the founder of African Heroes, a South African a cappella group, which was a semi-finalist in the 1998 Shell Road to Fame national competition. He is also a tenor/baritone soloist and choir conductor for the Music Paragons adult choir. Born in Umlazi Township in South Africa, Duma has worked as a mentor and vocal coach of South African singing technique to students from South Africa and the UK.
Shyko Amos For
Soho Rep.: An Octoroon. Shyko is an ensemble artist of The
Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York. US theater credits include: Mamma Mia! (World Tour); The Founders Project (New York Theatre Workshop); Gin Baby (IRT); Cell (
Ensemble Studio Theatre); Sex and Death in London (Rising
Phoenix Theatre); The Honest Whore (The Flea), and the workshop for Veils (StageWorks Hudson Theatre and iStar Theatre Lab.) UK credits include: In Time (Almeida Theatre, written by Olivier Award-winning playwright Bola Agbaje); the first British revival of Once on This Island (UK Tour); Songs of Freedom workshop written by award-winning British playwright/director
Kwame Kwei-Armah (South Bank Centre); Charlten Heston and The Prodigal Son workshops (The National Theatre). Mr and Mrs Amos-Unforgettable, that's what you are.
Mamoudou Athie NYC/ Regional credits include Hamlet (Yale Rep); The Zoo Story; Tripolitania; and Becoming Sylvia (
Williamstown Theatre Festival);The Wedding Reception (Columbia Stages); and The Merchant of Venice (
Shakespeare Theatre Company). Yale School of Drama: Twelfth Night; Hedda Gabler; and The Visit. Film: Experimenter. Co-founder of DIY Shakespeare (As You Like It) and co-curator of
August Wilson's Century Cycle at Yale School of Drama. Mamoudou studied at the William Esper Studio, and is a recent graduate of the Yale School of Drama, where he received the
Lloyd Richards Scholarship in Acting.
Khail Toi Bryant started her acting career at the age of four, when she was featured in a commercial for Downey Fabric Softener. She has since appeared in several national commercials as well as television, movies, print ads and voiceovers. Bryant starred in her first feature film at the age of six, playing Emily in The Perfect Holiday alongside
Queen Latifah. She also played Zel in Tonsure, a short independent film, and will soon shoot her second feature film, playing Gemma in My BFF. Bryant performed with
Alvin Ailey in the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, performing one of their most renowned dances, "Wade In The Water," on NBC. She was also chosen to perform in
Alvin Ailey's 50th Anniversary documentary, as well as accompanying Ailey to the White House for a Tribute to
Judith Jamison hosted by The
First Lady Michelle Obama. Bryant had a starring role in The Lion King on Broadway and on tour, playing Young Nala. She currently resides in Brooklyn, is 15, will enter the 10th grade this fall.
Ntombikhona Dlamini Broadway: The Lion King, Sarafina!, Riverdance, Godspell. Off-Broadway: Sheila's Day (
Lincoln Center Theater). Ntombikhona has provided vocals for the Power of One soundtrack, the Lion King and a Half soundtrack, the Between the Lions theme song for PBS, the Double Platinum soundtrack with
Diana Ross, and she recorded the World Cup 2010 theme song for ESPN. She also appeared on Oprah with
Diana Ross. Artists she has recorded with include Groover Washington Jr, Hugh Masikela, Mirriam Makeba,
Ziggy Marley, and Jimmy Cliff. Ntombikhona appeared on the Essence Awards with Bebe Winans and
Chante Moore.
Thuli Dumakude Broadway: The Lion King, Lost in the Stars. Off-Broadway: Poppie Nongena (
Music-Theater Group/
Lenox Arts Center), for which Thuli won both an Olivier and an Obie award; Juan Darien (St. Clement's Theatre). National credits include: Bongi's Journey and Sheila's Day (Crossroads Theatre). Thuli won three Audelco Awards in New York for writing, directing, and performing her one-woman show Buya Africa. She has choreographed for Umabatha, Muntu Dance Theatre in Chicago, and Dinizulu
Dance Company. Vocal coach credits include: Sarafina (Broadway); Sheila's Day (Crossroads Theatre). Thuli is originally from South Africa, and has performed at the Civic Theatre and the Market Theatre in Johannesburg. TV/Film: Cry Freedom; Power of One; Serengeti. Thuli also toured South Africa during apartheid time to raise awareness about the plight of her fellow South Africans, and had the opportunity to perform at Nelson Mandela's 80th birthday. Thuli continues to work with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Jonathan Peck Broadway: The Lion in Winter (Roundabout Theatre). Off-Broadway: Three Sisters (Classical Theatre of Harlem); Richard III (Pearl Theatre); Julius Caesar (Public Theatre); Abduction from the Seraglio (New York City Opera); The Minstrel Show (Queens Theatre in the Park); The Color of Justice (Theatre Works); Black (Women's Project); A Christmas Carol (Virginia Stage Company). Regional credits include: Piano Lesson (Olney Theatre); The Whipping Man (
Syracuse Stage); Sty of the Blind Pig (Theatre Works Hartford); Every Tongue Confess, Blood Knot, The Glass Menagerie (
Arena Stage); Cyrano de Bergerac (Utah Shakespeare Theatre Fest); Tamburlane, Edward II (The Shakespeare Theatre); Othello, A Midsummer Nights Dream (
Old Globe Theatre); Buffalo Gal (Studio Arena); Walker (Boston Playwrights Theatre); Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Yale Rep); Les Blancs (Centre Stage); Big White Fog (The
Guthrie Theatre); Puddin' N' Pete (San Diego Repertory Theatre); The Merchant of Venice (
Milwaukee Repertory Theatre); The Taming of the Shrew (
Westport Country Playhouse); A Midsummer Nights Dream (The
Acting Company); Hamlet (North Shore Music Theatre); Our Country's Good (Hartford Stage); Two Trains Running (Huntington Theatre); Fences (
Cleveland Playhouse). TV/Film: Rubicon, Cadillac Records, Law and Order (C.I.), The West Wing, American Dreams,
The Devil's Own, Someone Else's America, My Special Angel, One Life to Live, Here & Now, King.
Michael Rogers For
Soho Rep.: born bad. Other credits include: Sucker Punch (
Studio Theatre); Breakfast with Mugabe (Centenary Theatre); Uncivil Wars (Pick Up Performance Co.); The Day of the Picnic (Peoples Light and Theatre Co.); Dido and Aeneas (Glimmerglass Opera); Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Lincoln Ctr @ the Belasco); Antony & Cleopatra (Theatre for a New Audience); Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Troilus & Cressida, King John, Othello (TFANA); The Dumb Waiter, Sizwe Bansi is Dead (Providence Black Rep); Medieval Mystery Plays (La Compagnia De' Colombari); Everything that Rises Must Converge (New York Theatre Workshop); Dracula (
Barter Theatre); Dream on Monkey Mountain (Denver Center); Master Harold and the Boys (
American Stage Festival); Richard III (NJ Shakespeare Festival); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare Santa Cruz); Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Trinity Rep); A Play of Giants, Playboy of the West Indies (Yale Rep); Uncle Tom's Cabin (Everyman Company); Believing (Young Playwrights Festival). TV/Film: Side Streets; The Mosquito Coast; Weekend at Bernie's II; Inscape; Dance of the Quantum Cats; Moonfire; Law & Order: SVU; Six Degrees; The Jury; Law & Order Criminal Intent; Law & Order; One Life to Live; Tattingers; and Kav O'Brien. Michael is a founding member of The Owen Dodson Lyric Theatre and Italy's La Compagnia De' Colombari. He has also been part of the acting company at the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference. Michael trained at the Yale School of Drama.
