Shotgun Players Presents KILL MOVE PARADISE

Recently featured in a New York Times project called "Black Writers of Our Time," Philadelphia-based playwright James Ijames is an artist on everyone's A-list. His newest play, Kill Move Paradise, is a new take the Elysium of Greek antiquity. Inspired by recent events, the play is an expressionistic buzz saw through the contemporary myth that "all lives matter. Kill Move Paradise begins previews on Friday, July 5; opens on Friday, July 12; and runs through Sunday, August 4, 2019, at the Ashby Stage.

Kill Move Paradise is the second James Ijames play to be produced at the Ashby Stage following the popular 2018 production of White. It's a fantasy set in an afterlife, but the subject matter is very real. Ben Brantley of the New York Times comments: "This haunting, grief-steeped work, inspired by the shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by a Cleveland police officer, imagines an afterlife in which the spirits of young black men try to comprehend how and why they died. The answers do not come easily, if at all. A choral tone poem of a play in which current history becomes an endless, cyclical nightmare."

Kill Move Paradise addresses the growing list of black men (and women) being cut down by racial violence, but not in a typical way of reducing their deaths to a mere statistic. Speaking to the collective spiritual transformation at work among the characters, Playwright James Ijames says, "[they] embody all the ways in which we try to be human. They are jealous, they are kind, they maternal and paternal, they are pushed physically to the edge of something and then fall. You can't deny their humanity. And they are all black. So the audience has to see them as they are. Imagining the white version of them is not an option."

The cast of Kill Move Paradise features Trevonne Bell, Edward Ewell, Lenard Jackson, Dwayne Clay, and Keli'i Salvador. The creative team features direction and co-choreography by Darryl V. Jones, dramaturgy by Leigh Rondon-Davis, set design by Celeste Martore, lighting design by Stephanie Johnson, lighting design assistance by Stephanie Lapides, costume design by Courtney Flores, stage management by Dawn Marie Kelley, props design by Devon LaBelle, sound design by Elton Bradman, video design by Theodore J.H. Hulsker, fight direction by Dave Maier, co-choreography and movement coaching by Laura Ellis, and production assistance by Vanessa Hill

More at shotgunplayers.org/online/article/kill-move-paradise

Bios

James Ijames, Playwright

James Ijames has appeared regionally in productions at the Arden Theatre Company, the Philadelphia Theatre Company, InterAct Theatre Company, the Wilma Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Mauckingbird Theatre Company, and People's Light and Theatre. James's plays have been produced by Flashpoint Theater Company, Orbiter 3, Theatre Horizon (Philadelphia, PA), the National Black Theatre (NYC), Ally Theatre (Washington, D.C.) and have received development with PlayPenn New Play Conference, the Lark, Playwright's Horizon, Clubbed Thumb, Villanova Theater, the Gulfshore Playhouse, Wilma Theater, Azuka Theatre, and Victory Garden. He received a BA in drama from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA and a MFA in acting from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. He is assistant professor of theatre at Villanova University and resides in South Philadelphia.

Darryl V. Jones, Director

Darryl V. Jones is professor and chair of theatre and dance at Cal State East Bay. Last season he directed and co-choreographed the Aurora Theatre production of The Royale, which won the BACC Award for Entire Production-East Bay, and this year he opened their season with Detroit '67. Directing credits include Off Broadway/National Tour We Are Your Sisters (AUDELCO Award Outstanding Production), A View From The Bridge (Theatre Lobby Award Outstanding Direction), and Spunk (Helen Hayes Award Nominee). Other credits include The Minneola Twins (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Co.) and The Brothers Size (Theatre Rhino). Jones was directing associate at Arena Stage, where he choreographed Candide and Dance of Death and directed and produced new plays for PlayQuest. He has performed with theatre companies such as Arena Stage, The Old Globe, and Ford's Theatre. Jones was Head of the BFA Directing Concentration at the University of Michigan and foundation advisor for their BFA Acting Program. He also currently teaches acting in The American Conservatory Theatre MFA Acting Program. Jones holds a bachelor of music and vocal performance from The Catholic University of America, and an MFA in directing from Boston University.

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