Red Bull Theater To Present New York Premiere Of AMERICAN MOOR Off-Broadway

Red Bull Theater announced today that Keith Hamilton Cobb's acclaimed play American Moor, will have its Off-Broadway premiere at Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce St), in a production directed by Kim Weild and produced in collaboration with Evangeline Morphos, Frederick M. Zollo, Elizabeth I. McCann and Tom Shea.

The strictly limited engagement of Cobb's "spellbinding journey through Shakespeare and race" (Boston Globe) will begin performances on Tuesday, August 27, 2019, with an official opening night set for Sunday, September 8, 2019.

An indomitable African-American actor auditioning for the role of Othello must respond to the dictates of a younger, white director who presumes to better understand Shakespeare's iconic black character. What could possibly go wrong? In this 90-minute, multi-award winning play, this fraught audition turns into an exploration of Shakespeare, race, and America (not necessarily in that order). Fueled by humor and passion, American Moor paints an essential portrait of an American theater unaware of its failures, and of the culture that supports it. You will "never see black characters in the same way again." (Washington Post)

"I couldn't be more excited to share Keith's provocative and timely play - and his extraordinary performance in it - with New York audiences," says Red Bull Theater artistic director Jesse Berger. "American Moor is a funny and deeply personal look at preconceptions about race and Shakespeare. Keith's magnetic presence, his spell-binding performance, and deeply probing examination of these issues will be an extraordinarily engaging time in the theater and will ignite thought-provoking debates after. American Moor is a vital addition to our ongoing work offering great plays in conversation with the classics at Red Bull Theater, and all of us are looking forward to it."

Prior to this upcoming Off-Broadway run, American Moor has had presentations at ArtsEmerson, The Anacostia Playhouse, Boston Center for the Arts, and The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London. Among the accolades that American Moor has earned are an AUDELCO Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, IRNE (Independent Reviewers of New England) Awards for Best Visiting Production Small Theatre, Best Visiting Performer Small Theatre, and an Elliot Norton Award (Boston Theater Critics Association) for Outstanding Solo Performance. The script is part of The Folger Shakespeare Library's permanent collection.

The creative team for the production includes four-time Drama Desk Award nominee Dede Ayite (costume design), Lucille Lortel Award nominee Wilson Chin (set design), Lucille Lortel Award-winner Alan C. Edwards (lighting design), and Christian Frederickson (sound design).

The production is made possible through special arrangement with Cherry Lane Theatre under the direction of Angelina Fiordellisi. The production is made possible by a generous grant from the Williams Family Foundation.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 30, 2019 and can be purchased by visiting RedBullTheater.com.

For more information please visit https://www.redbulltheater.com/american-moor.

To post a comment, you must register and login.