Progressive Theater Announces 2020 Season

Progressive Theater has announced its 2020 season. The 2nd season opens with 4 performances of THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS, co-produced with The Community Coalition on Race. The musical tells the truth of nine black boys who were ripped from a train in Alabama and accused of rape by two white women in 1931. Hauled to jail without a shred of actual evidence against them, The Scottsboro Boys were rushed through trial procedures, found guilty and sentenced to death. The cast includes Alcides Costa, April L. Barber, Bosa Mora, Brian Fender-Shirley, Donavon Chambers, Dorian Andrews, Jim E. Chandler, Jordan Owens, LeVane Harrington, Manny Milfort, Nasir Roper, Rodney Jackson, and Shawn-Herbert Felton. Performances run February 14th - 16th at The Burgdorff Center for The Performing Arts. Following all performances audience members are encouraged to participate in a post-show discussion.

The second production of the season features international opera singer, Lori Brown Mirabal, in a performance of WITH WARMEST REGARDS. Mirabal celebrates icons like Pavarotti, Oprah and Cab Calloway, in a musical-note-of-thanks. Such icons have personally supported Mirabal's career. Join us on March 14th in celebration at the Burgdorff Center for The Performing Arts.

For one night only, April 27th on stage at The Woodland in Maplewood, NJ Progressive Theater is proud to host a benefit concert of THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS. Retold as a gospel musical within the framework of a Pentecostal church service, Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus, in which the exiled king Oedipus seeks a place where he may be properly buried. The concert will feature both local and Broadway artists. Progressive Theater is asking all attendees to bring cans of nonperishable food to be donated to Isaiah House. Isaiah House's mission is to reduce the prevalence of homelessness, hunger and unemployment throughout Essex County and more specifically, within the Oranges and Newark.

Following THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS, on May 22nd and 23rd, Progressive Theater will present BROWNSVILLE SONG (B-SIDE FOR TRAY). Set in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, Brownsville song (b-side for tray) is a powerful tale of resilience in the face of tragedy. A family must hold onto hope when a spirited African-American 18-year-old named Tray life is cut short. Cast TBA.

Tickets for all Progressive Theater events are on sale now! Visit Progressive Theater to be a part of progress.

Progressive Theater aims to tell culturally enriched stores that empower the misrepresented, people of color, while captivating audiences with the focus being the change we want to see in the arts.

"Progressive Theater will be Progressive Theater with or without a show. Our mission reaches beyond stage and costume. Progressive Theater is cultivating the true meaning of diversity in the theater community by empowering the misrepresented and underheard. There is room for all of us." - Founder/ Artistic Director, Gregory Omar Osborne.

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