BrownBox Theatre and Sound Theatre Company to Present Encore Reading of BLACK LIKE US

To celebrate the publication of the play Black Like Us, BrownBox Theatre joins forces with Sound Theatre Company to present an "encore" staged reading of the Gregory Award Winning Play at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute. Black Like Us is a funny, poignant, and deeply relevant story about the bonds of family, the struggles of identity, and the far-reaching effects of one woman's decision. The play is set in Seattle's Central District neighborhood, not far from the location of the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, and spans decades of change that have impacted that community.

In their second collaboration, BrownBox Theatre and Sound Theatre Company present the staged reading of Gregory Award winning play

Black Like Us at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute. Performances are Saturday, November 19 at 2:00pm and at 7:00 pm and free and open to the public. There is a reception between the performances to celebrate the publication of this script and the work of playwright Rachel Atkins and the companies of artists who helped to develop this multi-award-winning play.

Sound Theatre Company and BrownBox Theatre last collaborated on the 2015 production of Marcus Gardley's visionary and poetic play, ...And Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi at the Center Theatre at the Seattle Center Armory.

In 1958, a young African-American woman makes the life-changing decision to start passing for white, creating a ripple effect through multiple generations. In 2013, her granddaughters accidentally discover her secret and seek out the family she left behind. Moving back and forth through time, what happens in between is a frank and funny look at the shifting boundaries of tolerance, as they are all faced with the many questions of what identity really means.

It is at its core the story of a family, and of the sweet, complex, and exasperating relationships that exist between sisters. It is also the story of a family that lives in Seattle, and the history of the Central District and the Civil rights movement in this city are woven into the narrative. With a diverse all-female cast, a dash of history, and a lot of humor, Black Like Us explores the effect one woman's decision has to reverberate through the generations.

Black Like Us is a funny, poignant, and deeply relevant story about the bonds of family, the struggles of identity, and the far-reaching effects of one woman's decision.

Black Like Us is published with a forward by Allyson Hobbs, an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Stanford University. Hobbs' book, A Chosen Exile: History of Racial Passing in American Life, examines the phenomenon of racial passing in the United States from the late eighteenth century to the present. A Chosen Exile is published by Harvard University Press and received the Fredrick Jackson Turner Award, and the Lawrence Levine Award for best book in American cultural history.

Rachel Atkins is a Seattle-based playwright and teaching artist. She is the scriptwriter for Living Voices/Theatreworks USA, the educational theatre company with whom she has twelve different multi-media shows in ongoing national touring repertory. She's also a regular adapter for Book-It Repertory Theatre, with numerous mainstage, education and touring productions. Her plays have been seen locally at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre, The Empty Space, Annex Theatre, Brownbox Theatre, Seattle Public Theatre, Live Girls!, Infinity Box Theatre Project, Forward Flux Productions, Fantastic Z, Washington Hall, and 14/48: The World's Quickest Theatre Festival, and regionally at Harvard Radcliffe Summer Theater/American Repertory Theater (MA), One Theatre World/Cleveland PlayhouseSquare (OH), Independent Actors Theatre (MO), North Country Cultural Center for the Arts (NY), Explora Theater (NM), Moonlit Wings Productions, (VA), and Virginia Theatre (IL). A member of the ArtsWA Teaching Artist and the Creative Advantage Arts Partner rosters, she works as a master teaching artist for Seattle Children's Theatre, Book-It Repertory Theatre, Arts Impact, and ACT's Young Playwrights Program. Previously, she was the Scriptwriter/Dramaturge and Director of Education for Ardeo Theatre Project in St. Julien l'Ars, France. She graduated from Dartmouth College and holds her Masters in Educational Theatre from New York University. A member of the Sandbox Artists Collective, Rachel was honored to be a 2010 TPS Gregory Award nominee for Outstanding Playwright.

Black Like Us was commissioned by Live Girls! Theater in Seattle for their Cupcake Reading series in October 2012. The 10 minute version was developed into a one-act play, produced by Rain City Projects and Annex Theatre in Seattle in February 2013. The full-length version was produced by Annex Theatre and Brownbox Theatre in Seattle in January-February 2014.

Awards

American Theatre Critics Association Steinberg New Play Award nominee (2014)

Theatre Puget Sound Gregory Awards: Outstanding New Play (2014)

Seattle Times Footlight Awards: Top World Premiere, Top Play on a Smaller Stage (2014)

Hear Rachel discuss growing up in a bi-racial family & Black Like Us on KUOW

2/27/2014 Click HERE to listen.

Reviews from the Annex Theatre/Brownbox Theatre co-production of BLACK LIKE US, 2014:

"Candid, compassionate and engagingly humorous... a reflection on how limiting a "them vs. us" mindset is, in a land where racial and cultural identity cannot be so easily defined."- Seattle Times

"Both funny and chilling...a sharp slice into the racial history of an American city from an unusual perspective"- The Stranger

"Her ability to find comedy through the entire piece is excellent. Her eye for characterization and her ear for immediate, intimate dialogue are faultless... Thoughtful, crisp, and incredibly funny in the best tragicomic way. Ms. Atkins has written an excellent piece that deserves discussion..."-Seattle Star

"An accomplished, important and challenging new play ...Unlike many good plays that leave you with much to discuss over coffee after you leave the theater, I suspect this play will leave me with internal discussions and conflicts that I'll debate for the rest of my life. "-Seattleactor.com

"The real sadness about great pieces like this is that most of the people who need to see it - people who think that "cleaning up the drug problem" is as easy as making arrests, people who don't see a problem with the minimum wage as it is, people who think racism is dead - don't usually see it. So we need you to go see this piece, and also to bring your friends."-Seattlish.com

BrownBox Theatre is a Seattle-based African-American theatre company founded by Tyrone Brown in 2001, whose mission is the creation, development and production of re-imagined Black theatre. Brownbox Theatre's productions include The Negro Passion Play and Black Like Us at Annex, which received the 2014 Gregory Award for Outstanding New Play.

Sound Theatre Company was just named "Theatre of the Year" for the second time by Theatre Puget Sound's Gregory Awards. Sound Theatre has received twelve Gregory Awards in the diverse genres of dramas, musicals and literary comedies. Sound Theatre's Seattle premiere production of A Small Fire received four Gypsy Rose Lee Awards from Seattle Theatre Writers, including Excellence in Production of a Play (2014). Launched in 2006 by Founding Artistic Director Teresa Thuman, Sound Theatre Company presents cutting-edge presentations emphasizing the role of language and music in our world.

Built in 1915, the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute is an historic landmark and the perfect venue for your special event. Designed by B. Marcus Priteca, and formerly the Jewish Synagogue of Chevra Biku Cholim, the building became a community center and part of the City of Seattle's facilities in 1972. It underwent extensive renovations in 2011 to preserve its architectural character and update the facilities.

LANGSTON is the new non-profit arts organization created to continue the mission of the historic Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute. Their mission is to strengthen and advance community through Black arts and culture. LANGSTON is based out of the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute building, which is still owned and operated by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture.

CAST

FLORENCE Akilah Williams

MAXINE Laura Steele

DONNA Maleah Metz

MICHELLE Ashley Banker

AMY Caitlin Frances

SANDRA Megan Ahiers

TANYA Imani Woodley

DENISE Lindsay Zae Summers

PRODUCTION TEAM

Playwright Rachel Atkins

Director Teresa Thuman

Asst. Director Shermona Mitchell

Stage Manager Kali Greenberg

Co-Producers Tyrone Brown (BrownBox Theatre) and Teresa Thuman (STC)

WHAT: Black Like Us, by Rachel Atkins - Staged Reading and Launch of Play Publication

WHO: BrownBox Theatre and Sound Theatre Company

WHERE:

Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute

104 17th Ave S

Seattle, WA 98144

WHEN:

Two performances on Saturday, November 19: 2:00pm matinee and 7:00 evening. A reception with the playwright and artists will be begin at 4:30 between performances.

TICKETS: FREE - Reservations encouraged

Reserve seats at http://www.soundtheatrecompany.org/buy-tickets/

or call 206-856-5520

Donations welcome at the door

BrownBox Theatre Joins Forces with Sound Theatre Company to Present a Staged Reading of Gregory Award Winning Play

Black Like Us

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