East New York, Brooklyn: Nina's estranged father, a former black revolutionary, reappears after many years to obtain a piece of her deceased mother's legacy. A powerful story of one woman's journey from a brutal existence to her own liberation, Sunset Baby is an energetic, daring look at the point where the personal and political collide.
Primal Forces Productions, the new edgy and innovative production company, will present the southeastern premiere of Dominique Morisseau's Sunset Baby. The production will run from tonight, November 29th through December 21st at the Andrew's Living Arts Studio in Fort Lauderdale.
Sunset Baby "...explores the gaps between generations, movements, and the effect that absent fathers have on their young daughters," says playwright Morisseau. "That dynamic is so rarely examined on the stage: we usually talk about the effect it has on young black boys, but what about our girls?"
"In continuing our mission to present new works about the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s, we have found this powder keg of a play that premiered off-Broadway last December," says Primal Forces producer Keith Garsson. "In Sunset Baby, a former black activist returns to Brooklyn to search for his daughter...but learns a hard lesson about the 'Sins of the Father'. We have three of the most talented actors in South Florida playing 'urban outlaws' whose explosive confrontations lead to some intriguing secrets revealed while also offering a very entertaining ride through America's haunted past.
Garsson has assembled an award winning cast to interpret these complicated and compelling characters. John Archie, Makeba Pace, and Ethan Henry will take on the roles of Kenyatta Shakur, his daughter Nina, and her partner Damon.
"I was told (the play) is derived from one of 2Pac's poems which I thought was so stimulating," says Pace. "The message of this play is survival by any means necessary. A woman who was born to revolutionize ends up on a struggling path... trying to survive on the streets while selling drugs and robbing people. Yet somewhere in spite of all that, she still has a dream." Pace was recently seen in The M Ensemble production of Knock me a Kiss and in the Fort Myers Repertory Company's production of Clybourne Park.
Silver Palm winner and two-time Carbonell nominee Ethan Henry was recently named Best Supporting Actor by the Miami New Times for his performance in the Adrienne Arsht Center/University of Miami Theatre Department's production of Metamorphoses.
Tickets for Sunset Baby are $25 ($20 for preview performances ) and can be purchased on line at http://www.primalforcesproductions.com , or by phone at 866-811-4111. Andrews Living Arts Studio is located at 23 NW Fifth Street in Fort Lauderdale.
Primal Forces Productions is offering complimentary tickets to Sunset Baby for members of Theatre League, Actor's Equity, SAG, AFTRA and students and their guests.
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