New Freedom Theatre Celebrates Holiday Season with the Return of Black Nativity

New Freedom Theatre opens its 50th Anniversary season with the annual holiday favorite Black Nativity: An African Musical Play, running November 30-December 18 at Freedom Theatre (Broad and Master Streets). Written, directed and choreographed by New Freedom Theatre's new artistic director Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, the ensemble cast features Sanchel Brown, Julian Everett Blair Darden, JorDan Dobson, Leedea Harrison, AJ Jackson, Sophiann Moore, Lauren Michelle Morgan, James Pitts, Jr., Danzel Thompson-Stout, and Nicholas Trawick. Using a combination of gospel music, African music and traditional carols, Maharaj's modern activist lens brings a powerful new take on a classic tale.

Previews begin Wednesday, November 30 with opening night on Thursday, December 1. Performances run Friday through Sunday with a single Thursday matinee on December 15 until December 18. General admission tickets at $35, $20 for students and seniors are available by visiting freedomtheatre.org or calling the New Freedom Theatre Box Office at 888-802-8998.

Black Nativity: An African Musical Play made its world premiere at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago in a co-production with the Congo Square Theatre Company. For this production New Freedom Theatre will partner with Save Darfur and What's Up Africa to foster dialogue through a series of talk backs after the show and to raise funds to send aid to Darfur.

Set in modern day Darfur, this musical play tells the parallel stories of two couples - Biblical Mary and Joseph, and a couple with the same names having a baby and living in a Darfur refugee camp. Darfur Mary is heavily pregnant and has just gone into labor. Her husband, Darfur Joseph, has been missing. When Mary refuses to give birth until her husband has returned safely, she is visited by the angel Gabriel who takes her back in time to the evening of the birth of the Christ child. Upon meeting Biblical Mary and Biblical Joseph, Darfur Mary is challenged to trust in God's grace and power to get her through the birth of her child and the hardships that come with living in modern day Darfur. With her newfound faith, Darfur Mary returns to the present and gives birth to her own child.

"The region of Sudan known as Darfur has been wracked with war and genocide for decades, with the Janjaweed troops terrorizing the region as they rape women and brutally murder men and children," said Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj. "By bringing together the conflict and challenges faced by those in Darfur on a daily basis with the challenges faced by Biblical Mary and Joseph in birthing Christ, the play reminds us of the universality of motherhood, love and hope. By finding healing through faith and a common ground, it brings us back to what the holiday season is all about."

New Freedom Theatre's 50th Anniversary season continues with the Philadelphia premiere of Mother Emanuel: An American Musical Play (April 12-23) and the Tony Award-winning blockbuster Dreamgirls (June 14-25).

Founded in 1966 by John E. Allen, Jr. New Freedom Theatre is Pennsylvania's oldest African American theater and one of only five in the nation whose mission supports the African American dramatic arts, producing both new and established plays. Recently New Freedom Theatre instituted free community events including the Edwin Forrest Reading Series, a monthly series showcasing lost African American plays and subject matter, and Freedom Speaks modelled after the Harlem Renaissance Salons and featuring diverse voices discussing how the arts can relate to issues affecting the neighboring community. New Freedom Theatre is housed in the historic Edwin Forrest Mansion at Broad and Master Streets.

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