Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY Presents SKELETON CREW By Dominique Morisseau

The Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY (BTTUNY) has announced its upcoming and first production of the 2023-2024 season, “Skeleton Crew” by Dominique Morisseau, directed by Hettie Barnhill.

Performances will be in the Lauren and Harold Iselin Performing Arts Studio at theREP-located at 251 N Pearl Street in Albany, NY Thursday, Oct. 19 through Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023. Performance times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 4 p.m. on Sunday.

At the start of the Great Recession, one of the last auto stamping plants in Detroit is on shaky ground. Each of the workers must make choices on how to move forward if their plant goes under. Shanita must decide how she'll support herself and her unborn child, Faye has to decide how and where she'll live and Dez has to figure out how to make his ambitious dreams a reality. Power dynamics shift as their manager Reggie is torn between doing right by his work family, and by the red tape in his office. Powerful and tense, “Skeleton Crew” is the third of Dominique Morisseau's Detroit cycle trilogy.

Tickets are available through the Box Office at Proctors in-person, via phone at (518) 346-6204 Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m. or online at capitalrep.org. Groups of 10 or more can get their tickets by calling (518) 382-3884 ext. 139.

The Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate New York (BTTUNY) was originally founded under the name Soul Rebel Performance Troupe in 2009 by veteran actor Jean-Remy Monnay. Monnay was born and raised in Haiti, later moving to NYC at the age of 18. In 1997, he moved upstate and began to get involved in the Capital Region theatre scene. He soon discovered that there were very few BIPOC artists working in the area, and very limited opportunities for those artists to find work. The creation of Soul Rebel Performance Troupe was in response to this lack of access; it provided a home for artists of color, LGBTQIA+ actors, and other overlooked and underrepresented identities. The company was granted 501(c)(3) status in 2011, as it further committed to its mission and began to grow its performance season and outreach programs into a more vibrant array of activities. Over the years, the company's focus became more clearly about supporting BIPOC, and predominantly Black, artists and narratives, and in 2018 the company's name was changed to The Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate New York to better align with this intention. In June 2021, BTTUNY became the resident community company at Capital Repertory Theatre (theREP).

MISSION: The Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate New York's goal is to foster cross-cultural understanding and to create more diversity on stage and in theatre by highlighting, producing and promoting performance and theatre arts by marginalized artists in upstate New York. We aim to expand the cultural landscape and create a place for artists of color to grow and thrive.

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