MCC Theater (Bob LuPone, Bernie Telsey, Will Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) has announced the extension of the New York premiere of All the Natalie Portmans by C.A Johnson (MCC Theater's 2019/20 Tow Playwright in Residence) with direction by Kate Whoriskey. Previously scheduled for a limited run through March 15, All the Natalie Portmans will now play through Sunday, March 29 at the Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater at The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space (511 West 52nd Street).
On Saturday February 29th at 5:30pm, MCC's "Let's Engage" series presents a Panel Discussion titled: "Black Queer Selfhood on American Stages: A conversation exploring how the queer self and queer womanhood are articulated and the crafting of identity through storytelling." The panel will feature playwrights C.A. Johnson, Kirya Traber, Donja R. Love, and Michael R. Jackson, and moderated by Ianne Fields Stewart. The conversation will explore the shifts in the American Theater landscape in producing plays written by queer playwrights. Even with the widespread popularity of specifically queer plays, the lion's share of the attention is still white male-centric. The panel will take a deeper look into plays that explore the black experience and black queer womanhood on stage. It will also dive into how the plays tell stories through conflict, the embracing dreaming inside theatrical work, and the presence of elders or the lack thereof.
As previously announced, the cast of
All the Natalie Portmans features Joshua Boone (Network-Broadway), Montego Glover (Tony Award nominee, Drama Desk winner Memphis, Hamilton), Elise Kibler (Mies Julie, Indian Summer), Raphael Peacock (OJ/Othello), Renika Williams (The Climb), and Kara Young (Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven).
All The Natalie Portmans is currently in performances at the Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater at The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space (511 West 52nd Street) with official opening night set for Monday, February 24th.
All The Natalie Portmans is a fantastical new coming of age comedy. Sixteen-year-old Keyonna and her older brother Samuel live on the brink of eviction while dreaming of a better tomorrow. Too smart, "too gay" and too lonely to fit in, Keyonna escapes into a world of rom coms, red carpets and all the iconic characters played by her muse, Natalie Portman. But when "all the Natalie Portmans" start talking back to her, Keyonna finally has to face her off-screen drama in this imaginative new play that reminds us to embrace life on the ground while still reaching for the stars.
The creative team includes scenic design by Donyale Werle, costume design by Jennifer Moeller, lighting design by Stacey Derosier, sound design by Sinan Refik Zafar, hair and make-up design by Cookie Jordan, movement direction by Warren Adams, fight direction by J. David Brimmer, and casting by Telsey + Company/ Williams Cantler, CSA, Destiny Lilly, CSA. The Production Stage Manager is Alexandra Hall.
All the Natalie Portmans was developed, in part, at the 2018 Sundance Theatre Lab. This production is supported by the Tow Foundation and the R&S Shulman Fund at MCC Theater. The R&S Shulman Fund supports artistic development and production of new plays, with a focus on work by African American playwrights.
Photo Credit: Daniel J. Vasquez
Comments
To post a comment, you must
register and
login.
