San Diego Rep Production of Greg Kalleres' HONKY to Air on PBS Tomorrow

HONKY by Greg Kalleres received its World Premiere at NYC's Award winning Theatre Company Urban Stages in the spring of 2013. The Urban Stages production, directed by Luke Harlan, received raves, and the play was subsequently remounted later that year. Due to its NY success, HONKY was produced at San Diego Rep and was filmed by PBS and OnStage in America and will receive a landmark presentation tomorrow, November 6, at 10PM (www.pbs.org/onstage-in-america/honky/home/).

"Greg Kalleres wrote a wonderful play that explored the topic of racism in a fresh, pointed way that made audiences laugh, think and discuss. As artists that is what we should strive for every time. We are so proud that Urban Stages was able to bring Greg's extraordinary play Honky to a New York audience." - Urban Stages Founding Artistic Director, Frances Hill.

Watch a preview below!

With the vexed question of racism dominating American headlines, HONKY throws political correctness out the window and dares to reveal the dark underside of commercialism and privilege. The results are both sobering and hilarious. When a black teen is shot to death for his pair of trendy Skymax basketball shoes, sales of the shoe suddenly triple among rich white teens. The new white CEO of Skymax, a shoe company catering to black kids, sees only dollar signs. The shoe's black designer is, however, enraged and blames the murder on the company's ghetto-themed ad campaign. That campaign was the work of a white copywriter who is now so tormented by guilt that he seeks help from a therapist who, to his dismay, turns out to be black.

PBS and OnStage in America present a fresh and provocative new comedy: HONKY. This no-holds-barred satire about racism in contemporary America lights up the stage. Honky, written by playwright Greg Kalleres, was taped entirely onstage at San Diego Repertory Theatre under the direction of Don Roy King, winner of five Emmy Awards and director of NBC's SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE for the last nine seasons. Produced by OnStage In America, LLC and funded by PBS and a Kickstarter campaign: Honky is part of the ongoing, multi-platform PBS Arts initiative, which highlights PBS's commitment to the performing and visual arts, and gives millions of viewers a front-row seat and a backstage pass for the best music, theater, dance, art and cultural history programs on-air and online.

Urban Stages is currently presenting the NY Times Critic's Pick, UNSEAMLY by Oren Safdi, which the Wall Street Journal called "Smart, fast, filthy and funny, Unseamly is a Mamet-style satire staged at hurtling velocity." UNSEAMLY has been extended through November 8, 2015.

URBAN STAGES is an award-winning, not-for-profit, Off-Broadway Theatre Company founded in 1984 by current Artistic Director Frances Hill. For over 30 years, Urban Stages have produced dozens of world, American and NYC premieres including the currently running Unseamly by Oren Safdie (NY Times Critics' Pick) and the Pulitzer Prize Finalist Bulrusher (2007) by Eisa Davis. We have been honored with awards, nominations and recognition from the Drama Desk, Obie Awards, Audelco, Outer Critics Circle and much more. For instance, our world premiere of the musical Langston In Harlem by Walter Marks (music and book) and Kent Gash (book and direction) garnered a Drama Desk Nomination, a Joe A. Calloway award and 4 Audelco awards including Best Musical Production of 2010. More recently, our 2014 spring premiere of Jim Brochu Character Man was nominated for a Drama Desk and an Outer Critics Circle award for Best Solo performance. After production, most plays move on to larger venues. Men On The Verge Of A Hispanic Breakdown by Guillermo Reyes and Minor Demons by Bruce Graham both moved to commercial theatres. Chili Queen, a play by newscaster Jim Lehrer, transferred to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. (1989). Honky (2013) by Greg Kalleres saw a regional run at San Diego Rep. My Occasion Of Sin (2012) by Monica Bauers won critical acclaim when it moved to Detroit Rep. Bill Bowers has toured the United States and the world with his two Urban Stages premieres blending mime and theatre - Beyond Words (2012) and Under A Montana Moon (2002)! Some Urban Stages premieres have even been developed into film and television projects such as Scar by Murray Mednick, Conversations With The Goddesses by Agapi Stassinopoulos, and Cotton Mary by Alexandra Viets. In addition to plays and musicals, annually we hold a music festival - Winter Rhythms - that features famous and up-and-coming Cabaret, musicians, lyricists and other music artists. In 2015, Winter Rhythms was celebrated by the Manhattan Association of Cabaret with a Ruth Kurtzman Benefit Series Award.

Pictured: Urban Stages cast - Chris Myers, Anthony Gaskins and Reynaldo Piniella. Photo by Ben Hider.

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