Bayou Theatre Company to Stage PASSING STRANGE

Bayou Theatre Company continues it's 2014-2015 Season "Finding the Real" with Stew's musical "Passing Strange," exploring themes of acceptance, identity, the importance of family and love, set in various parts of Europe like Amsterdam, and Berlin. Passing Strange is directed by Bayou Theatre Company's Artistic Director Alric Davis with musical direction by Donte Wright, and will be performed at the Frenetic Theatre Thursday - Saturday August 6th - 8th nightly at 7:30 p.m.

Passing Strange is a vibrant musical fused with an infectious score of rock, jazz, punk, and soul that tells the story of Youth, a young black man from Los Angeles, who travels to Europe on a adventure to find his destiny, or what he refers to as "The Real". It is this thrilling journey that exposes Youth to the good, the bad, and the ugly of places like Amsterdam and Berlin while exploring subjects like sex, drugs, race, politics, and even love. A modern-day coming of age story jam packed with loads of passion, and heart, Passing Strange is sure to leave you rocking all the way home! The show was first performed on Broadway in 2008 and quickly became a critical favorite, garnering 7 Tony Award nominations and winning for 'Best Book' and 7 Drama Desk Award nominations and winning in 3 categories, among them 'Outstanding Musical'.

Stew, along with writing the Tony-Award winning Book, also wrote lyrics and co-composed for Passing Strange. He is a two-time Obie winner: 'Best New Theater Piece' and, as a member of the P.S. acting family, 'Best Ensemble.' A four-time Tony nominee, Stew leads, along with his collaborator Heidi Rodewald, two critically acclaimed bands: The Negro Problem and Stew. Works: Post Minstrel Syndrome (TNP 1997), Joys and Concerns (TNP 1999), Guest Host (S 2000), The Naked Dutch Painter (S 2002), Welcome Black (TNP 2002), Something Deeper Than These Changes (S 2003) and the cast album of Passing Strange (2008). He is an artist-in-residence at the California Institute of the Arts (2004/5); Passing Strange: Berkeley Repertory Theater/the Public Theater/the Belasco Theater (2006/2007/2008). He's also responsible for the composition of the song "Gary Come Home" for Nickelodeon's hit Children's show SpongeBob SquarePants.

Heidi Rodewald has spent more than a decade as a performer, arranger, producer and composer for both The Negro Problem and the multi-disciplinary ensemble known as Stew. Credits include Passing Strange, Berkeley Repertory Theatre/the Public Theater/the Belasco Theater (2006/2007/2008); composer, Karen Kandel's Portraits: Night and Day (2004); and co-writer with Stew of the screenplay We Can See Today, Sundance Screenwriters Lab/Directors Lab (2005). Heidi also wrote and performed with the seminal female punk band Wednesday Week.

Alric Davis is a current student at Howard University with a major in Musical Theatre and a minor in Playwriting. He is the recipient of the Theatre Under the Stars' Tommy Tune Award Scholarship, and a recipient of the Texas Thespians Scholarship Award for Excellence. In 2013, his original play Different, Damaged, Damned was chosen as a winner of the Houston Young Playwrights Exchange (HYPE) at the Alley Theatre. He is a former student and Educational Intern at Stages Repertory Theatre's Young Actors Conservatory. He is also former Tommy Tune Award nominee for his work in The Color Purple (Harpo) and The Wiz (Tin Man). Some of his favorite performance credits are Insurrection (Hammet), Not About Nightingales (Rev. Hooker) and Anything Goes (Moonface Martin) at Howard University; Little Shop of Horrors (Seymour), Ruined (Simon), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Slow Drag), The Actor's Nightmare (George), The Darker Face of The Earth (Henry). His favorite directing credits include Dearly Departed and The Bayou Theatre Company's production of Fences last year. He has Co-Founded The Bayou Theatre Company, a newly created Theatre company in Houston with the purpose of exposing, educating and enriching lives through Theatre.

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