Daniel Beaty's EMERGENCY Coming to Brooklyn Center This Winter

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College continues its 2017-18 Kumble Theater season with Daniel Beaty's solo theatrical tour-de-force, Emergency, on Saturday, February 17, 2018 at 8pm and Sunday, February 18, 2018 at 3pm.

Originally titled Emergence-SEE when it made its New York premiere at The Public Theater in 2006 under the direction of Kenny Leon, the show has since toured nationally and internationally, earning Beaty a 2007 Obie Award for Writing & Performing and a 2007 AUDELCO Award for Solo Performance.

Tickets are $30 and can be purchased in advance at BrooklynCenter.org or by calling the Brooklyn Center box office at 718-951-4500. Day-of-show tickets should be purchased at the Kumble Theater on the downtown Brooklyn campus of LIU, located at 1 University Plaza, or by calling the Kumble Theater box office at 718-488-1624.

Present day. A Slave Ship emerges out of the Hudson River in front of the Statue of Liberty, sending New York City into a frenzy as they try to understand this bizarre and unexplainable phenomenon. Award-winning actor/writer/poet/community activist Daniel Beaty portrays more than 40 characters in this solo theatrical tour-de-force as he explores our shared humanity and what it means to be free. Through the characters' various testimonies on identity and personal freedom, Emergency is an intricately woven, urgent, witty and moving commentary of modern African American life.

The play's first voice is a reporter announcing the startling development in the harbor. Others follow quickly: a profane homeless man; a religious grandmother who understands the slave ship to be a sign from God; a transsexual who mistakes it for a new Carnival Cruise; an academic expert in "Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome"; and a group calling themselves the Pissed Off Negroes, who plan to shoot anyone who tries to remove the ship. Inhabiting them all, Beaty takes his place in a long line of comic chameleons he cites as influences in a 2013 interview with The Boston Globe, including Lily Tomlin, John Leguizamo, Robin Williams, and Whoopi Goldberg.

"I believe that artists have a particular role to play in healing and social transformation," Beaty said in a 2014 interview with The New York Times. "Part of the reason that our nation and our world are so out of balance is that artists aren't playing a full role in these conversations." He mentioned in that same interview that he sees himself in the line of artist-activists that include Harry Belafonte, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, and Paul Robeson, about which Beaty's 2014 play The Tallest Tree in the Forest was written. His belief is perhaps best summed up in a quote from Emergency: "We can overcome if we change the way we see, see ourselves, see our past, see our possibility."

Daniel Beaty is an award-winning actor, singer, writer, and community activist. He is the co-writer and lead actor of the upcoming feature film Chapter & Verse with LorEtta Devine and Omari Hardwick about a man who integrates into society after eight years in prison. His critically acclaimed plays Through the Night, Emergency, Mr. Joy, Breath & Imagination, and The Tallest Tree in the Forest - Paul Robeson have been produced at leading theaters across the nation and venues ranging from Lincoln Center to the White House, garnering numerous awards including an Obie award for writing and performance and three NAACP Theatre Awards. A highly requested keynote speaker, Daniel has spoken throughout the U.S., Europe, and Africa.

In 2012, Daniel created I Dream, a nationally recognized social justice initiative that uses the tools of the arts, immersive group exercises, and trauma recovery to support young people to rewrite the story of race and class inequality in America, and create social justice projects to make that new story reality. I Dream has reached over 2000 young people in three cities across the nation: Watts, CA; Omaha, NE; and Boston, MA.

A graduate of Yale University (BA) and American Conservatory Theatre (MFA), Daniel has developed original TV shows for Showtime and Fox/Imagine, and recently completed a documentary about the impact of mass incarceration on children and families called Behind the Glass. A child of an incarcerated parent himself, Daniel's poem "Knock Knock" is an Internet sensation receiving millions of views and has been made into a children's book, also titled Knock Knock, published by Little Brown Books. Penguin-Random House published his empowerment book Transforming Pain to Power in 2014.

As part of its season at Kumble Theater, Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts will also present an evening of solo works with NEA Jazz Master Kenny Barron (February 24, 2018), Brooklyn-based jazz artist Alicia Olatuja (March 10, 2017), and Step Afrika! (April 28, 2018). The company plans to announce additional performances in the fall in conjunction with the opening of the new Leonard and Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College. Visit BrooklynCenter.org for a complete season lineup.

Multibuy discounts (three or more shows) save 15% off individual ticket prices. Multibuyers enjoy flexible ticket exchanges and discounted parking for purchased performances at Brooklyn College. A 50% discount for children ages 12 and under is offered for select performances. Discounts are also available for seniors, students, Brooklyn College faculty/staff/alumni, active/retired military personnel, and groups. $10 student rush tickets available day-of-show.

IF YOU GO:

Emergency

Saturday, February 17, 2018 at 8pm
Sunday, February 18, 2018 at 3pm

At Kumble Theater at LIU Brooklyn, 1 University Plaza, Brooklyn

Tickets: $30
Online orders: BrooklynCenter.org | Box Office: 718-951-4500

Founded in 1954, Brooklyn Center for the PerformingArts at Brooklyn College presents outstanding performing arts and arts education programs, reflective of Brooklyn's diverse communities, at affordable prices. Each season, Brooklyn Center welcomes over 65,000 people to the 2,400 seat Whitman Theatre, including up to 45,000 schoolchildren from over 300 schools who attend their SchoolTime series, one of the largest arts-in-education programs in the borough. For the 2017-18 season, the company will present at the Kumble Theater on the downtown Brooklyn campus of LIU, while Whitman Theatre undergoes a 12-month closure for structural repairs. Brooklyn Center will announce additional performances for the spring of 2018 in conjunction with the opening of the new Leonard and Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College.

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