Huntington Announces Special Events to Accompany GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER, Beg. 9/5

In conjunction with its upcoming production the compelling family comedy Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Huntington Theatre Company will host a number of special events and post-show conversations. Admission to onsite post-show events is free with a ticket to Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, available at huntingtontheatre.org/guesswho, by phone at 617 266 0800, or in person at the BU Theatre (264 Huntington Avenue) and Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA (527 Tremont Street) box offices. Tickets start at $25. Performances begin Friday, September 5, 2014 at the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre.

35 BELOW WRAP PARTY

Friday, September 5, following the 8pm performance

A post-show party for the region's culturally curious ages aged 35 and below featuring backstage access, free refreshments, and live entertainment by Aphrolove. Mingle with members of the cast, creative team, and Huntington staff. Hang out with friends and meet new people.

35 Below tickets are available at all performances to patrons 35 and under for just $25. Harpoon Brewery is the official beer of 35 Below.

STAGE & SCREEN: JUNGLE FEVER

Monday, September 8, 7pm -- Coolidge Corner Theatre

A screening of director Spike Lee's 1991 film Jungle Fever about an interracial relationship, followed by a conversation with Boston Globe Metro Desk reporter James H. Burnett III and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner playwright Todd Kreidler. Stage & Screen is a collaboration between Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Huntington that explores the depictions of shared themes in Huntington productions and acclaimed films.

Tickets to Jungle Fever are $11 / $8 for Coolidge members (with member ID) and Huntington Theatre Company subscribers (with promo code) and may be purchased online at coolidge.org or at the Coolidge box office, located at 290 Harvard Street, Brookline.

Todd Kreidler served as dramaturg for August Wilson's Radio Golf and Gem of the Ocean in their early productions at the Huntington and other regional theatres and on Broadway. He wrote the musical Holler If Ya Hear Me, an original story featuring the lyrics of Tupac Shakur, which played on Broadway this summer. He is also writing a musical with Nikki Sixx, based on Sixx's memoir and music, The Heroin Diaries. His stage adaptation of the film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner ran at Arena Stage in Washington, DC and premiered at True Colors Theatre Company in Atlanta. Most recently, he directed August Wilson's one-man show How I Learned What I Learned at the Signature Theatre in New York. He originally directed and co-conceived the piece with Mr. Wilson performing at Seattle Repertory Theatre in 2003. He co-founded the August Wilson Monologue Competition, a national program aimed at integrating August Wilson's work into high school curriculum, of which the Huntington facilitates the Boston semi-final.

James H. Burnett III is a regional reporter on The Boston Globe's Metro desk where he writes on topics of race and race relations. He was previously a culture writer for the Globe's Living/Arts section and a columnist and culture writer for the Miami Herald, where he contributed to award-winning projects on juvenile crime and the deadly 2010 earthquake in Haiti. He has appeared on NPR and CNN.

STUDENT MATINEE

Wednesday, September 17 at 10am -- ASL-Interpreted and Audio-Described

For students in grades 8-12. Tickets: $15. Includes pre-show in-school visit, curriculum guide, post-show Actors Forum, and Dramatic Returns card for each student. Call 617 273 1558 for more information.

AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE-INTERPRETED PERFORMANCES

Wednesday, September 17 at 10am (student matinee) and Friday, September 26 at 8pm

The Huntington Theatre Company offers ASL interpretation for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing at designated performances. Under the supervision of season consultant Wendy Watson and ASL consultant John Pirone, the two performances will be interpreted by Sharon Mendes and Cara Schwartz.

Seating for each ASL-interpreted performance is located in the orchestra, house left. Tickets are $15 for each Deaf patron and a guest. To reserve tickets, please contact Access Coordinator Meg O'Brien at mobrien@huntingtontheatre.bu.edu.

AUDIO-DESCRIBED PERFORMANCES

Wednesday, September 17 at 10am (student matinee) and Saturday, September 27 at 2pm

The Huntington Theatre Company offers audio description for blind and low-vision patrons at designated performances. Under the supervision of season consultant Alice Austin, the two performances will be described by Cori Couture (primary describer) and Vince Lombardi (secondary describer).

Tickets are $15 for each patron and a guest. To reserve tickets, please contact Access Coordinator Meg O'Brien at mobrien@huntingtontheatre.bu.edu.

BOSTON GLOBE INSIDERS EVENT: POST-SHOW CONVERSATION WITH JAMES H. BURNETT III, MALCOLM-JAMAL WARNER, AND MEREDITH FORLENZA

Thursday, September 18 after the 7:30pm performance

The Boston Globe Metro reporter James H. Burnett III will moderate a conversation with Malcolm-Jamal Warner (Dr. John Prentice) and Meredith Forlenza (Joanna Drayton) from the cast of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner at this interactive post-show conversation. A Boston Globe Insiders event - tickets to the 9/18 performance are $45 for Boston Globe subscribers who use the discount code.

Meredith Forlenza (Joanna Drayton) has Broadway credits that include The Winslow Boy, A Behanding in Spokane, and Pal Joey. Her Off Broadway credits include Completeness (Playwrights Horizons), All-American (Lincoln Center Theater), The Notebook of Trigorin (The Flea Theater), and A Contemporary American's Guide to a Successful Marriage (SoHo Playhouse). Her regional credits include The Delling Shore at the 2013 Humana Festival of New American Plays and Steel Magnolias at the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina. Her film and television credits include David Chase's Not Fade Away, Hannah Has a Ho-Phase, The Union, "Mercy," "Guiding Light," and "As the World Turns." Ms. Forlenza is a graduate of Northwestern University.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner (Dr. John Prentice) is a seasoned actor, musician, director, and producer. Mr. Warner first rose to national prominence appearing in the television series "The Cosby Show." His work on the show garnered him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Other television credits include NBC's hit show "Community," TNT's "Major Crimes" and "Hawthorne," CBS' "The Cleaner," Showtime's "Dexter," and BET's original series "Reed Between the Lines." As a director, he has worked on television series including "Malcolm & Eddie," "The Cosby Show," "All That," "Keenan & Kel," "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "Sesame Street," "Reed Between the Lines," and the AIDS awareness video "Timeout: The Truth about HIV, AIDS, and YOU" (NAACP Key of Life Image Award). His short film This Old Man received critical acclaim on the theatre festival circuit. Mr. Warner made his feature film debut in Paramount Pictures' Drop Zone and was also seen in Warner Bros.' Pictures Fools Gold. He also co-starred in the independent films Restaurant with Adrien Brody, A Fare to Remember, and The List with Wayne Brady. His theatre credits include Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Arena Stage), Three Ways Home, Cryin' Shame (NAACP Theater Award for Best Supporting Actor), and Freefall (Victory Gardens Theater), A Midsummer Nights' Dream (La Jolla Playhouse), and the West Coast debut of his one-man theatrical production of Love and Other Social Issues. He plays bass guitar in his jazz-funk band Miles Long. The band has performed in several major jazz festivals and recently performed at the historic Apollo Theater. His CDs are available on iTunes.

James H. Burnett III (see above)

HUMANITIES FORUM WITH MAHZARIN BANAJI

Sunday, September 21 after the 2pm performance

Harvard University social psychologist Mahzarin Banaji will discuss how our unconscious attitudes towards race sometimes run counter to our admitted beliefs and the use of innovative research methods to measure bias as these topics relate to Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, followed by a conversation moderated by a Huntington staff member. Humanities Forums are presented in conjunction with all Huntington productions.

Mahzarin Banaji received her PhD from Ohio State University and was a postdoctoral fellow at University of Washington. She taught at Yale University for 15 years, receiving the Lex Hixon Prize for Teaching Excellence. She is currently a Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics in the department of psychology at Harvard. She served as the first Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. At present, Ms. Banaji also serves as Cowan Chair in Human Social Dynamics at the Santa Fe Institute. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Diener Award for Outstanding Contributions to Social Psychology, and she is a Herbert Simon Fellow of the Association for Social and Political Psychology. Ms. Banaji studies unconscious thinking and feeling as they unfold in social context. She has primarily studied social attitudes and beliefs in adults and children, relying on multiple methods including cognitive/affective behavioral measures and neuroimaging (fMRI). With these, she explores the implications of her work for questions of individual responsibility and social justice in democratic societies. Her current research interests focus on the origins of social cognition and applications of implicit cognition to improve organizational practices.

COMMUNITY MEMBERSHIP RECEPTION

Friday, September 26 before the 8pm performance

A pre-show reception with refreshments for members of the Community Membership program. Community Membership is an initiative designed to reduce the cost barrier of attending live theatre for those with limited income and to diversify the Huntington's audience so it looks more like the city of Boston. Members can purchase best-available tickets to any performance without restriction for just $15. Membership is free and available through partnerships with agencies and organizations that serve limited-income populations. Santander is the Lead Supporter of the Huntington's Community Membership program.

Please note: There is no elevator access to this reception.

A CONVERSATION WITH MALCOLM-JAMAL WARNER AND WBUR'S ROBIN YOUNG -- WBUR NIGHT/ARTWEEK EVENT

Friday, September 26 after the 8pm performance

WBUR's Robin Young, co-host of the nationally-broadcast "Here & Now" speaks with Malcolm-Jamal Warner about Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, his time as a member of TV's favorite family, and more.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner (see above)

Robin Young brings more than 25 years of broadcast experience to her role as host of "Here & Now." She is a Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker who has also reported for NBC, CBS, and ABC television and for several years was a substitute host and correspondent for "The Today Show." Ms. Young received several Emmy Awards for her television work, as well as cable's Ace award, the Religious Public Relations Council's Wilbur Award, and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Gold Award. She has also received radio's regional Edward R. Murrow award. As an independent documentary filmmaker, she produced and directed the opening film for Marion Wright Edelman's White House Conference on Children and followed the rise of then unknown filmmaker John Singleton in the film Straight from the Hood. Her documentary The Los Altos Story, made in association with the Rotary Club of Los Altos, CA, won the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award and is now the backbone of a worldwide HIV/AIDS awareness initiative. She has had an eclectic career in broadcasting, serving as second director on Boston Bruins and Red Sox telecasts, was one of the first hosts on the groundbreaking television show "Evening Magazine," and she's pretty sure she's the only Peabody Award-winner who has also hosted a cooking game show! Ms. Young was born on New York's Long Island, attended Ithaca College in upstate New York, and has lived and worked in Manhattan, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles, but Boston is her hub.

POST-SHOW AUDIENCE CONVERSATIONS LED BY MEMBERS OF THE HUNTINGTON STAFF

After most Tuesday - Friday, Saturday matinee, and Sunday matinee performances

GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER runs September 5 to October 5, 2014. Select Evenings: Tues. - Thurs. at 7:30pm; Fri. - Sat. at 8pm; select Sun. at 7pm. Matinees: Select Wed., Thurs., Sat., and Sun. at 2pm. Days and times vary. Press Opening: Wednesday, September 10, 7pm. RSVP online. All performances play the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston.

Single tickets starting at $25 and FlexPasses are on sale: online at huntingtontheatre.org; by phone at 617 266 0800; or in person at the BU Theatre Box Office, 264 Huntington Ave. and the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA Box Office, 527 Tremont St. in Boston's South End. Select discounts apply: $5 off: seniors; $10 off: subscribers and BU community (faculty/staff/alumni); $25 "35 Below" tickets for patrons 35 years old and younger (valid ID required); $15 student and military tickets (valid ID required).

ABOUT THE HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY - Recipient of the 2013 Regional Theatre Tony Award and named Best of Boston 2013 and 2014 by Boston magazine, the Huntington Theatre Company has developed into Boston's leading professional theatre and one of the region's premiere cultural assets since its founding in 1982. Bringing together superb local and national talent, the Huntington produces a mix of groundbreaking new works and classics made current to create award-winning productions, runs nationally renowned programs in education and new play development, and serves the local theatre community through its operation of the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. Under the direction of Artistic Director Peter DuBois and Managing Director Michael Maso and in residence at Boston University, the Huntington cultivates, celebrates, and champions theatre as an art form. For more information, visit huntingtontheatre.org.

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