Redhouse Presents BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK

Redhouse presents the third show of their 2022/2023 Season, By The Way, Meet Vera Stark. This comedy, written by Lynn Nottage, takes audiences to the Golden Age of Hollywood and shines the spotlight on aspiring starlet and headstrong African-American maid, Vera Stark, as she lands a role in the same movie as her white boss, Gloria 'America's Little Sweetie Pie' Mitchell.

By The Way, Meet Vera Stark is in continuity with Redhouse's season theme, 'In Search Of...' with this play highlighting Vera Stark in search of her own identity. In selecting this show, Redhouse Artistic Director, Temar Underwood, shares, "As a black artist myself, I have obviously been influenced by the black movie stars on whose shoulders I stand and this play honors those, especially the women, that have been forgotten."

The beginning of the play is set during what is known as the 'pre-Code' era in Hollywood. The Motion Picture Production Code (The Hays Code) was enacted in the early 30's. Pre-Code films were more suggestive, containing sexual innuendos, profanity, and a more realistic vision of race relations. These themes came to a halt with the Code's strict set of guidelines being put in place until the 60's. These guidelines are the direct predecessor of our modern film rating system (Pre-Code.com).

Underwood adds, "Playwright Lynn Nottage points out in a New York Times article from 2011, 'If that Code hadn't set in, the whole trajectory of Hollywood would have been different, and some would argue that race in America would be different because the representations of people of color and particularly of women would have been much more expansive.'"

By The Way, Meet Vera Stark will feature local Syracuse talent as well as New York City based actors and production team members. The cast will feature Joanie Anderson as Vera Stark, and Marguerite Mitchell as Gloria Mitchell, as well as Donovan Stanfield, Blondean Young, Caroline Strange, Vito Longo and Derek Emerson Powell. Redhouse Artistic Director, Temar Underwood will be directing this show, and Redhouse has assembled a strong production team to make this show possible, which will include Chad Healy (scenic designer), Marie Yokoyama (lighting designer), Andrea Calarco (costume designer), Shane Patterson (sound designer), Kassandra Melendez- Ramírez (stage manager), Joshua Reid (production manager and lead electrician), Connery MacRae (property coordinator), Jakob Pepper (technical director), Caitlin Friedberg (asst. stage manager and COVID compliance officer), Elissa Brundage (wardrobe supervisor/dresser), Craig Costello (asst. technical director), and Matilda Washington (director of photography).

Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage's fast-paced, sly satire brings audiences on a journey through Vera's seventy-year life and presents a sharp take on race and culture - both past and present. The story behind the cameras leaves Vera with a surprising and controversial legacy historians and scholars will debate for years to come.

By The Way, Meet Vera Stark opens at Redhouse on Friday, February 24, 2023, and runs through Sunday, March 5, 2023.

Tickets are available at www.theredhouse.org or by calling the Box Office at (315) 362-2785.

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