WNY World Premiere Picked Up By The Black Rep for 2012 Production

Road Less Traveled Productions (RLTP) today announced that the smash-hit play Insidious,which debuted in 2010 to critical acclaim and box office success at Western New York's (WNY's) Road Less Traveled Theater (RLTT) and is slated to be revived on the RLTT stage from June 10, 2011 to July 10, 2011, also will be part of The Black Repertory Theater's 2011-2012 Season. The Black Rep, as it is most commonly known, the nation's largest African American theatre company, will present the hit play in Spring 2012 on its St. Louis, MO stage.

Insidious is the work of WNY playwright Ibn Shabazz, who developed the play in RLTP's Emanuel Fried New Play Workshop before it world-premiered at the RLTT in Summer 2010. RLTP already had slated to revive Insidious this summer. The Black Rep pickup validates the play's resonance nationwide and highlights RLTP success helping WNY playwrights develop their works for the stage in Buffalo and elsewhere. While plays from RLTP's workshop have traveled to other theatres, this is the first major national production of a WNY playwright's work premiered by RLTP.

In response to The Black Rep's 2012 production of Insidious, RLTP Executive & Artistic Director Scott Behrend said, "This is a momentous occasion for RLTP, and a major step forward for Buffalo playwrights... Insidious is the first new play written by a local writer and premiered by RLTP that will be produced at a major, National Theatre outside of Buffalo. We couldn't be happier or more proud of Ibn and his fine play."

WNY audiences can catch Insidious when RLTP remounts the play beginning Friday, June 10th. "Audience and critical response to Insidious was some of the strongest in our seven-year producing history," said Behrend. "When we reached the end of our original run it was clear there were many people who wanted to see Insidious but didn't have a chance." The entire original cast - Greg Howze, Xavier Harris, Adrienne Lewis, Carlton Franklin, and John Vines - will return in the upcoming RLTP production under original Director Doug Zschiegner's supervision.

Insidious is billed as the story of "a man's struggle against his darkest demons... as personified by a charismatic street hustler who will not take 'no' for an answer." It"is an unflinchingly potent tour through the inner hell of addiction." Anthony Chase of Artvoice and WBFO's Theatre Talk called Insidious "Thrilling... hilarious... wholly unpredictable... [a] wild ride" and added "The dialogue is quick, authentic, and fun. Xavier Harris is dry perfection as sociopathic Insidious... Adrienne Lewis is brilliant... Greg Howze and John Vines are masters of droll understatement... Carlton Franklin (is) priceless... I cannot praise the perfectly modulated direction of Doug Zschiegner enough." Colin Dabkowski of The Buffalo News called Insidious "a fine production of an edgy play! Heartbreaking ... entrancing, almost magical" and said a performance of the play "left the sold-out crowd stunned and enraptured!"

Ibn Shabazz is a director/playwright based in Buffalo, New York. Insidious is his first full-length play. His previously produced one-act plays are Cancel Christmas with the Northwest Community Players and A Simple Mother's Day Card with the PRT Workshop Ensemble. Under the pseudonym, Donald Richardson, Jr., Ibn has worked as a freelance writer for the Outcome Buffalo newspaper and assistant editor the for lifestyle magazine, Flava Men. He has published several short stories and also is a screenwriter. Mr. Shabazz started writing at age 15 with the teleplay Where's the Money?, filmed by the Langston Hughes Institute's Inner City Television Workshop. Ibn wrote for the US Army's All Soldiers Show while serving on active duty and has worked as an actor, director, and stage manager with the State University of New York at Buffalo (UB) Department of Theatre and Dance, Spelman College, The ALLIANCE THEATRE Company, Theatre Charlotte, and Shakespeare in Delaware Park. He most recently directed The Bluest Eye at the Paul Robeson Theatre and is currently drafting his next play, The Kiss of Life.

About Road Less Traveled Productions

Road Less Traveled Productions (RLTP) is a professional theatre company founded by Scott Behrend and Jon Elston. RLTP is dedicated to the development and production of new theatrical works by Western New York playwrights as well as presentations of esteemed modern dramas of outstanding literary merit. RLTP is located at 639 Main Street in the Market Arcade Film & Arts Centre in the Downtown Buffalo Theatre District. SPECIAL NOTE: For ticketing information, please visit www.RoadLessTraveledProductions.org or call (716) 629-3069. Tickets are available by cash/check only and may be bought 30min before a scheduled performance at the RLTT Box Office. (NOT Ticketmaster) RLTP's work is made possible through public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

 

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