Cape Cod Theatre Project Takes Audiences On Unexpected Journey In The South In BUST – An Afro-Currentist Play

BUST, written by playwright and actress, Zora Howard (HULU's Premature) is a true in-development play, is perhaps one of the Cape Cod Theatre Project's most anticipated readings of the season. What starts with a traffic stop of black man, quickly flips the script and a majority of what will transpire afterwards will be developed in the idyllic setting of the Cape and through audience feedback. Lileana Blain-Cruz will direct.

BUST will be performed as live-streamed readings on Thursday, July 16th and Saturday, July 18th, both at 7:00pm. Patrons can attend the benefit performances via an All Access Pass with a donation of $100 or more which provides a link to every CCTP performance and special events, or through individual performance passes for a $25 donation.

Inspired by a visit, to Huntsville, AL where the play is set, BUST is a deeply, character-driven play steeped in the cultural practices of Black-Americans. "I believe in what my father said, 'Culture is a strategy for survival,' and I have tried bring that philosophy into my characters, and my writing," shares Howard. While the traffic stop brings audiences into the story, it's the outcome and the interactions of the characters who appear and disappear throughout which matter so more than this one incident.

Zora Howard had recent success with her New York debut of Stew, produced by P73 Productions, and the play she wrote and stars in, Premature, which premiered at the Sundance Festival in 2019. Here at CCPT, Howard will take a closer look at how collective rage can be transformative vs. trying to push a political statement her play. She is especially excited to work alongside Blain-Cruz having followed and admired her work for many years. Blain-Cruz shares the admiration, "Zora has a particularly wonderful ear for character. Her language feels alive - almost musical - and that's a pleasure to read and to eventually experience in a performance."

BUST's features the Cape Cod Theatre Project's largest cast to date, 11 people, who bring a wealth of stage and Broadway talent to the play. Joining us for BUST are: Carlo Alban (Prison Break, Broadway's Sweet), W. Tré Davis (Valor, Seared), Dashiell Eaves (Broadway's A Time to Kill and A Behanding in Spokane), Cecil Blutcher (The Hot Wing King, Premature), J. Bernard Calloway (Memphis the Musical, Hadestown), Paige Gilbert (The Rose Tattoo, School Girls; or the African Mean Girls Play), Curt Morlay (Gotham, Blue Bloods), Heather Alicia Simms (Broadway's A Raisin in the Sun, Fabulation), Renika Williams (All the Natalie Portmans), and two of CCTP's very own, 2020 Summer Intensive Students, Saphia Suarez and Sarah Valeika, both of whom attend Yale University; Suarez is a senior, and Valeika a junior.

At CCTP, each week, playwrights rehearse, revise and prepare for two staged, live-streamed readings at the end of the week. At the end of each performance, audiences are invited to share their candid feedback with the playwright, director and actors in a talkback which helps playwrights make further revisions to their scripts. CCTP also hosts a weekly, community engagement program called StageTalk every Monday night at 7:00PM. Hosted by Brooks, audiences have unfiltered access to ask about the show, the playwright, and the production process.

All Cape Cod Theatre Project performances this season will be live-streamed, donation-based, readings. An All Access Pass to all performances and special pass-holder events is available for a donation of $100 or more. Individual Adult and Student performance passes, also via a donation, are available online. Please visit http://www.capecodtheatreproject.org/ for more information about the Cape Cod Theatre Project, its 2020 Benefit Live Reading Season, to purchase passes, get dates and more.

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