Milwaukee Repertory Theater to Present the World Premiere of PARENTAL ADVISORY: A BREAKBEAT PLAY

Milwaukee Rep, now celebrating its 70th Anniversary Season, will present the World Premiere of Parental Advisory: a breakbeat play by award-winning playwright Idris Goodwin (HBO’s Def Poetry Jam) in  the Stiemke Studio September 26 – October 29, 2023.  Commissioned through the John (Jack) D. Lewis New Play Development program, Parental Advisory: a breakbeat play infuses hip-hop, humor and the history of censorship through a two-actor play featuring Amir Abdullah (Chicago Med) as The MC and Marvin Quijada (The Dream King, Teatro Vista) as Timeless.
 
Parental Advisory: a breakbeat play is a high-energy World Premiere where two Hip-Hop artists mix slick beats and rhymes with important questions about censorship and expression in popular music. This engaging new play – half DJ jam session, half TED Talk – uses wit, humor and the uncanny powers of the Wu-Tang Clan to enter a conversation on parenting, identity and survival. At what age is it appropriate to introduce our children to music, life and an uncertain world – however controversial it may be?
 
Parental Advisory: a breakbeat play is directed by Kyle Haden (The Royale, Creede Repertory Theatre) with set designer Sydney Lynne (The Watsons Go To Birmingham, First Stage), costume designer Alethia Moore-Del Monaco (Hazardous Materials, Creede Repertory Theatre), lighting designer Jared Gooding (Nunsense, Milwaukee Rep), sound designer and music director Chris Land (Founder and CEO of Multiband Studios), dramaturg Deanie Vallone (Junk, Milwaukee Rep), casting director Jonathan Hetler, original music by silent marvin, and stage managed by  Josh Hart.
 
Idris Goodwin currently serves as the Artistic Director of Seattle Children’s Theatre following his tenure as Executive Director of The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, where he also taught for 6 years as a professor in the Department of Theater and Dance. His playwriting accomplishments encompass more than 60 stylistically diverse works, including his groundbreaking Break Beat Play Series (How We Got On, Hype Man, The Way The Mountain Moved), commissioned as part of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s American Revolutions series; Muhammad Ali coming-of-age play And In This Corner: Cassius Clay; and Ghost, adapted from the novel by Jason Reynolds. His 2019 collection of breakbeat poetry, “CAN I KICK IT?” was deemed “an ode to and embodiment of black lyric excellence” by the American Library Association, and his COVID breakbeat poem, “Your House is Not Just A House”, which was commissioned and produced by Milwaukee Rep in its At Home series, will be his first picture book, scheduled to be published by Harper Collins in 2024. Goodwin is the recipient of multiple awards from the Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, The National Endowment for The Arts, and was named a 2021 United States Artist Fellow. He serves on the board of the Children's Theatre Foundation Association and as Board President of TYA/USA. 
Parental Advisory: a breakbeat play is a John (Jack) D. Lewis New Play Development Program Production with Executive Producers Margaret Dethloff and Terri Zeh, and Rhonda and Greg Oberland. The Stiemke Studio Season is presented by Four-Four Foundation.
 
Parental Advisory: a breakbeat play runs September 26 – October 29, 2023 in the Stiemke Studio.  Opening night is set for Friday, September 29 at 8pm.  To purchase tickets to go to www.MilwaukeeRep.com, call the Ticket Office at 414-224-9490 or visit in person at 108 E Wells Street in Downtown Milwaukee.
 
For more information, please visit www.MilwaukeeRep.com.

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