Reading Of SICK? To Take Place 2/15 at St. James Parish Hall

Bristol Riverside Theatre continues its America Rising: Voices of Today reading series with Zakiyyah Alexander's SICK?. This reading will take place Sunday, February 15 at 5 p.m. at St. James Parish Hall, 225 Walnut Street in Bristol. Subscriptions are $45, $40 for BRT members, and individual reading tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. Tickets include entertainment and a soul food dinner.

Conceived, produced and directed by Artistic Associate Adam Goldstein, the America Rising: Voices of Today staged reading series is a celebration of culture and language. Presented in partnership with Temple University's MFA graduate acting program, the series opens the door to the hottest new voices of the American theatre.

SICK? takes a potent and touching look at the healthcare situation in today's world and how it affects us all. Tasha's father is dying and she has been through the medical gamut dealing with his illness. Now she appears to suffer from hypochondria. Or does she? Plagued by a series of symptoms and unable to obtain adequate medical care, Tasha does something she would never do -- she treats each day as if it were her last. In the process, she discovers the true meaning of love and re-connects with her father, long since lost to her. SICK? premiered at the Summer Play Festival, NYC in 2005.

The cast for this reading includes: Tiffany Barret (Temple alumna) as Tasha; Sarah Doherty (Temple MFA Candidate) as Eileen and other characters; Noah Drew (Temple MFA Candidate) as Jude; Justin Jain as Joon, and Lee Richardson (Temple Faculty Member) as Rah.

Playwright Zakiyyah Alexander will be in attendance at the reading and will participate in a post-show discussion with Richardson and Goldstein.

Alexander is a playwright, performer, and educator. She is the author of After the Show: A Play in Mask, Pralaya, Blurring Shine, (900), Elected, The Etymology of Bird, and SICK? Her work has been produced or developed at: Summer Play Festival (SPF) at Theatre Row, Greenwich Street Theatre, NY International Fringe Festival, La MaMa E.T.C., Pace Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Creative Place Theater, and The Producer's Club. Readings include: Women's Project, Actors Express, New Dramatists, The Vineyard Theatre, New Professional Theatre, and a commission with GAle GAtes et al, among others. She currently is commissioned by Mt. Holyoke. She has received the Dramatists Guild's Theodore Ward Prize; Jackson Phelan Award; a Fellowship at New Dramatists, and a New Professional Theatre Playwriting Award, among others. Her work is included in the latest edition of New Monologues for Women by Women. She is a resident member of New Dramatists, the Women's Project Playwrights Lab, an alumna of EST's Youngblood, and former resident at New Perspectives Theater. She has an M.F.A from Yale School of Drama.

Future America Rising readings are:
Harmless
By Brett Neveu
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue (2006 Pulitzer Prize finalist)
By Quiara Alegría Hudes (2008 Tony Award winner)
Sunday, May 3, 2009

Since 1986, BRT has brought consistently acclaimed professional theatre to Bucks County and maintained a long-term commitment to finding and developing new plays. The theatre is the recipient of over 50 Barrymore Award nominations for Excellence in Theatre, given annually by the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. In addition to its mainstage productions, the theatre serves as a cultural hub for the community, with such programs as children's theatre, community concerts and exhibitions of local visual arts. Currently under the direction of Artistic Director Keith Baker and Founding Producing Director Susan D. Atkinson, BRT enters its 22nd season.

 

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