Tickets On Sale Now For HANG TIME World Premiere at The Flea; Complete Cast Announced

The Flea has announced the complete cast and design team for the world-premiere production of HANG TIME, the new play written and directed by Pulitzer Prize finalist Zora Howard. The strictly limited engagement, which marks Ms. Howard's directorial debut, will begin performances at The Flea (20 Thomas Street) on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, and run through Monday, April 3. Tickets are now available at theflea.org/shows/hang-time.

HANG TIME's cast includes Akron Watson as 'Slim,' Cecil Blutcher as 'Blood,' and Dion Graham as 'Bird." Aaron Morton will understudy the three roles.

The newly assembled design team for HANG TIME features Neal Wilkinson (Scenic Design), Reza Behjat (Lighting Design), Dominique Fawn Hill (Costume Design), Megan Culley (Sound Design), and Charlie Oates (Movement Direction), with casting by Stephanie Yankwitt, CSA, tbd casting co.

In line with The Flea's radical new operating model, HANG TIME has been developed in partnership with Zora Howard as co-producer on all elements of her production, including budget partnership. HANG TIME is also produced in partnership with WACO (Where Art Can Occur) Theater Center in Los Angeles, where its 2024 West Coast premiere will take place.

"We are thrilled to partner with Zora on this stunning new play. She is an artist in full command of a complete arsenal of theatrical tools, from her deft writing to her inventive visual poetry. This is a work for anyone and everyone with an interest in our American story," said Niegel Smith (Executive Artistic Director, The Flea). "We are also incredibly grateful to our friends and partners at WACO Theater Center, who are working with us to ensure that Zora's vision will continue impacting audiences long after our run concludes."

Shay Wafer (Executive Director, WACO Theater Center) added, "When we share Black stories that shine a light on injustice, we honor those who fought against a system that wasn't built for them to succeed. This play serves as an exploration of the expectations placed on Black men in America, and the ways in which their humanity continues to triumph over the brutality that has been brought against them."

Three men chew the fat under an old, wide tree. In HANG TIME, we peek into the interiority - the great loves and bitter blues - of Black men in America. Setting the romantic and the macabre in sharp relief, HANG TIME invites the viewer to envisage the living Black body triumphant over the legacy of violence that it holds.

"This play has been haunting me for years," explained Ms. Howard. "When I first shared the work and my intention to direct with Niegel and Martin at the Flea, I was met with not only enthusiasm but also a commitment to center my vision for its production. In the months following our initial conversation, that commitment has only deepened. I am thrilled to be embarking on this journey with the Flea to finally bring HANG TIME to life."

The Flea was refounded in 2021 with the mission to support and invest in experimental art by Black, brown, and queer artists. The Flea provides space, financial support, producing partnership and other resources so that they may develop and share their vision in community with audiences.

Zora Howard

(Playwright / Director) is a Harlem-bred writer and performer. Plays include STEW (2021 Pulitzer Prize Finalist; P73 Productions); The Master's Tools (Williamstown Theatre Festival); AtGN (Oberlin College); BUST (2022 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Finalist; 2022 L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award Finalist); Holding; and Good Faith. Her work has been developed at SPACE at Ryder Farm, The Lark, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Primary Stages, and Cape Cod Theatre Project, among others. In 2020, her feature film Premature (2020 Film Independent John Cassavetes Award nominee), which she co-wrote with filmmaker Rashaad Ernesto Green, opened in theaters following its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Zora is the inaugural Judith Champion Fellow at Manhattan Theatre Club, a former Van Lier New Voices Fellow at the Lark Theatre, and an alumna of the P73 Interstate Writers Group. She is a 2022 Lilly Award recipient, a 2022 Helen Merrill Award recipient and is currently under commission from Seattle Rep, MTC, and Wessex Grove.

Cecil Blutcher

(Blood). Regional Theater: Pipeline (Actor's Theatre of Louisville); Petrol Station (The Kennedy Center). NYC: The Hot Wing King (Signature Theatre); Tempo (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Showtime Blues (Ensemble Studio Theatre). Film: Premature (Dir. Rashad Ernesto Green); Skin (Dir. Guy Nattiv); Sketch (Dir. Mariama Diallo). Television: "Hightown" (Lionsgate); "The Game" (Paramount+); "The Good Fight" (CBS All-Access); "Random Acts of Flyness" (HBO). Training: M.F.A. (Penn State). Follow: @CecilCreates Website: CecilBlutcherCreates.com.

Akron Watson

(Slim). Most recently seen on stage as "Rusty" in The Kennedy Center's critically acclaimed production of Guys & Dolls (2022). Broadway: The Tony, Emmy, and Grammy winning The Color Purple Revival (Bobby, Grady U/S), The Tony winning The Play That Goes Wrong (Trevor), The Tony, Grammy winning Hamilton: An American Musical (Aaron Burr). Off-Broadway: Fortress of Solitude (Subtle Distinction, The Public Theater), Black No More (winner of 2022 Lortel Award, The New Group/Signature Theater). Regional: Mr. Holland's Opus the musical (as Glenn Holland, Ogunquit Playhouse), Sister Act (as Curtis, Papermill Playhouse), Dreamgirls (North Shore Music Theater), To Kill a Mockingbird (as Tom Robinson, Dallas Theater Center); The Royale (as Jay Jackson, Repertory of St. Louis). Film: Spilt Milk (as Rodney), Seasons of Gray (as Chris), Miss Juneteenth (as Bacon). TV: "Empire" (as Eric Houston, FOX), "Chicago Med" (as Trevor, NBC). Voice-over: "One Piece: Heart of Gold" (as Psycho P), "Borderlands Pre-sequel" (as Dunks Watson), "The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct" (as Chris Brian). American Idol season 7.

Dion Graham

(Bird): From HBO's "The Wire," Dion is thrilled to be here for this premiere at The Flea! Broadway: Machinal, Not About Nightingales (also London's Royal National Theatre, dir. Trevor Nunn); International: The Gospel At Colonus (Edinburgh Int'l Festival, dir. Lee Breur), Pillars (Ibsen Conference, Norway); Off-Broadway: On The Levee, Lobby Hero (Lortel Award nom.), 10 Things To Do Before I Die, A Hard Heart, Washington Square Moves, 2, A View Of The Dome, Watbanaland, Elliot Loves among others. Premieres and classics in NYC and at numerous leading regional theatres. Film/TV: "Madam Secretary" (Fred Cole), "The Blacklist," "Elementary," "The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty," "Malcom X," "Mercy," "The Good Wife," "Gossip Girl," "NYPD Blue," "Homicide," "Hoop Life," "Hack," "Law & Order" (all three) and more. He's also the series narrator for A&E's "The First 48." Critically acclaimed, his performances have been praised as thoughtful and compelling, vivid and full of life.

Aaron Morton

(Understudy) is an actor, writer and artist born and raised in Plainfield, NJ. Founder of Bridge to Reality, a nonprofit geared towards increasing the presence of people of color in the arts through the mentorship of high school students of color (www.bridgetoreality.org). Theater: Room Enough (for Us All), Pipeline, Othello. Film: Beauty (Writer Lena Waithe, Dir. Andrew Dosunmu), When They See Us (Dir. Ava DuVernay). TV: "FBI: Most Wanted", "For Life", "Bull", "Blacklist". Education: Columbia University (MFA), Colgate University www.aaronsmorton.com

Neal Wilkinson

(Scenic Design) is a set designer, visual artist, and production manager. His most recent set design was the American Vicarious production of Shooting Celebrities by John Ransom Phillips, which was presented at the Flea in 2022. Previously, Neal's design work has been presented at venues such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center, the Finnish National Opera, and Spoleto Festival, as well as other theater festivals internationally. As a member of the Builders Association from 2003 to 2019, he designed works including House/Divided, Elements of OZ, and Strange Window. Neal's company Corps Liminis provides production management for theatrical productions, museums, and installations. Most recent projects include Particular Matter(s) by Tomas Saraceno at the SHED, Lightscape at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the Signals exhibition at MoMA.

Reza Behjat

(Lighting Design) is a freelance visual storyteller and lighting designer based in NYC. He began his career in Iran - where he worked with some prominent directors for several years. Besides numerous productions he designed in his home country, Reza's works have been shown in Off-Broadway and regional theaters across the United States such as Audible, Atlantic Theater, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater, The Guthrie Theater, Wilma Theater, Actors Theater of Louisville, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, PlayMakers Rep, etc. Off-Broadway: Good Enemy (Audible), Wish You Were Here (Playwrights Horizons), The Vagrant Trilogy, Out of Time (Public Theater), English (Atlantic Theater), P.S (Ars Nova), Henry VI (NAATCO), Hamlet (Waterwell), and etc. Opera: Angelique, Le Portrait De Manon (Manhattan School of Music), Ritual of Breath (Dartmouth College, Stanford Live), Gianni Schicchi, Buoso's Ghost (Michigan Opera). Awards: Knight of Illumination Award for Nina Simone: Four Women. Drama Desk Awards and multiple Henry Hews Design Awards.

Dominique Fawn Hill she/her

(Costume Design)

Design credits include An Untitled New Play by Justin Timberlake, One Night in Miami..., Pipeline (City Theatre Company); Journeys to Justice (Portland Opera); Mlima's Tale (Profile Theatre); STEW (Soho Rep); Hedwig and The Angry Inch, Rent (Portland Center Stage); Dark Girl Chronicles: CHRONICLE X (The Shed); 125th & FREEdom (National Black Theatre); Grace (Ford's Theatre); Tambo & Bones (Playwrights Horizons/CTG); Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (MTC); and Fat Ham (The Public Theater/Broadway). Website: dominiquefhill.com.

Megan Culley

(Sound Design) Selected Design: Antigone (Cleveland Play House); The Loophole (The Public Theater); Holmes & Watson Apt. 2B (KCRep); Grounded/Hurricane Diane; (Dobama Theater); Terminus (New York Theatre Workshop); 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (ACT of CT); Stranger Sings! (Off-Broadway); Inanimate (The Flea Theater); The Last Match (B Street Theatre); Roan @ the Gates (Luna-Stage/">Luna Stage); The Color Purple (Theatre Horizon). Selected Associate Design: A Christmas Carol with Jefferson Mays (Broadway); Flying Over Sunset (Broadway); for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (The Public Theater); The Old Man and the Old Moon (KCRep).

Charlie Oates

(Movement Direction) As a movement coach and fight choreographer, Oates has worked at numerous theaters including La Jolla Playhouse, The Mixed Blood, The Old Globe, Cincinnati Playhouse, San Diego Rep, Chautauqua Theatre Company and the Denver Center Theatre Company. He has been a guest artist in leading actor training programs in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Senegal, Sweden, and China. His years as a creator and performer of original physical theatre works, director and street performer have taken him across North America, the Pacific and Europe. He created, along with James Donlon, Truck Dog, which toured the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Ireland and, with Czech Performers, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. His work with Moira Keefe, Staying Married, toured the U.S., Canada, New Zealand and Ireland and his solo work Man Overboard, was seen in those countries and Australia as well. His international work as a director includes Flush at Theatre Alfred in Prague, a workshop production of Save You, Hate Me in Berlin and Fuatia's Future for the Calico Young People's Theatre of New Zealand. Oates has had a lengthy career teaching movement in MFA actor training programs, the majority of which was spent at the University of California, San Diego where he served as department chair and received the Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award. Following his retirement from UCSD he has continued to direct, teach and serve as a movement director at theatres and universities. He lives in Missoula, Montana and regularly spends time at his family's cattle ranch in Texas.

The Flea Theater

is a prolific NYC-based company founded in 1996 by three downtown artists. In 2021, The Flea refounded itself with a new mission and core values through collaborative efforts with CJAM. Its new operational model exemplifies our investment in artists and social equity and embraces our experimental, downtown NYC artistic heritage. Its work with CJAM included a restorative partnership design process with 13 of The Flea's former resident artists; DEI training for our Board of Directors, Executive Leadership and Board development; and a visioning process that helped to collaboratively design The Flea's new organizational model and mission. The Flea's new mission is: To invest in experimental art by Black, Brown, and queer folks. It provide space, financial support and producing partnership so that they may develop and share their vision in community with audiences. The Flea is committed to programs and operations that are Human centered; Anti-Racist & Anti-oppressive; Collaborative; Innovative; Sustainable; and Transparent. The Flea has produced more than 160 world premieres in its 25-year history, earning many awards including two Obies and a Special Drama Desk. Previous Flea productions that have become part of the theatrical canon include Ellen McLaughlin's The Trojan Women, Will Eno's Oh, the Humanity, Thomas Bradshaw's Fulfillment, Edward Iskandar's The Mysteries and NSangou Njikam's Syncing Ink.

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