The Gallery Players Presents JITNEY 3/19-4/3

The Gallery Players is proud to announce casting and creative team for August Wilson's Jitney. The winner of the 2001 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play and 2002 Laurence Olivier award for Best Play comes to Brooklyn March 19 - April 3, 2011. This production marks the first time the 44-year-old Brooklyn institution has produced an August Wilson piece.

Set in 1977 in the Hill District of Pittsburgh that is served by a makeshift taxi company, August Wilson's Jitney is a beautiful addition to the author's decade-by-decade cycle of plays about the black American experience in the twentieth century. The men who drive gypsy cabs, or "jitneys," strive to find honor and accomplishment in a harsh world. When the station owner's estranged son returns from prison, their reunion unleashes two decades of brutal, raw emotion. The New York Times said of August Wilson's Jitney, "Thoroughly engrossing, Jitney holds us in charmed captivity." August Wilson's Jitney is the only work in the playwright's cycle that has not been produced on Broadway.

Lawrence James* (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Trinity Rep and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Fences, Ford's Theatre), returns to the role of Becker after a run of August Wilson's Jitney at the Alley Theatre. The cast includes: Gil Charleston (The Sessions, Panoptic Theare Company), Kwaku Driskell* (P.O.V., Milk Can Theatre Company; Twelfth Night, the drilling compaNY), Barry L. Johnson, Franck Juste (Film: The BroKen Tower, directed by James Franco), Ivan Moore*, Iman Richardson, Terrence Charles Rogers* (National Tours: Smokey Joe's Café, Ain't Misbehavin') and Lawrence Winslow* (Medea, Classical Theater of Harlem). *denotes member, Actors Equity Association. This is an AEA approved showcase.

Broadway veteran Gregory Simmons directs August Wilson's Jitney at The Gallery Players. Mr. Simmons played the lead role of Paul in John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation at Lincoln Center Theater, opposite Tony® Award-winner Stockard Channing, and in Wilson's Fences at Syracuse Stage. His directing work has been seen at Diverse City Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The New York Musical Theatre Festival, The Westbeth (Amnesty Int'l, co-producer) and The Neighborhood Playhouse (14 Atrainplays, 3 Atrainmusicals), among others.

August Wilson's Jitney is produced by Lanie Zipoy for The Gallery Players. Ms. Zipoy returns to The Gallery Players after producing last season's critically acclaimed revival of Caroline, or Change (2010 NYITA Nomination, Outstanding Production of a Musical). Scenic Design is by Brian Ireland, Costume Design is by Sara Baldocchi-Byrne and the Lighting Design is Porsche McGovern. The Associate Producer is Steven Cunningham, the Stage Manager is Tamesis Eve Batiste* and the Assistant Stage Manager is Katie K. Chai.

August Wilson's Jitney opens Saturday, March 19, 2011 and continues Thursdays and Fridays at 8 pm, Saturdays at 2 pm and 8 pm, and Sundays at 3 pm through Sunday, April 3, 2011.

Tickets to August Wilson's Jitney at The Gallery Players are $18 for adults, $14 for Seniors & Children 12 and under. Individual tickets can be purchased by calling TheaterMania at (212) 352-3101, or online at www.galleryplayers.com. The Gallery Players is located at 199 14th St., between 4th and 5th Avenues in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Take the F Train to 4th Ave. or the R Train to 9th Street. By car: BQE to Hamilton Avenue to 14th Street.

A New York institution since 1967, The Gallery Players has served actors and audiences alike for more than 4 decades by showcasing burgeoning new talent and offering a home base for theater professionals. Its eclectic programming of intimate revivals and ambitious new work in inventive productions has earned it the reputation of "New York's Best Kept Secret." The Gallery Players is the recipient of the Off-Off Broadway Review's 2000 Award for Lifetime Achievement and was the recipient of New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical in 2007, 2008 & 2009 for their productions of Urinetown! the musical, Yank! A New Musical, and Like You Like It. Among its famous alumni are founding member Harvey Fierstein; Broadway regulars Nancy Anderson, Jeffry Denman and Diedre Goodwin; New York theater personality Seth Rudetsky and many others.

The Gallery Players' 44th season concludes with the classic musical Oliver! April 30 - May 22, 2011. The Gallery Players' summer celebration of new works continues with The 14th Annual Black Box New Play Festival, June 2 - 26th, 2011.

 

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