Hooded; Or Being Black For Dummies is a wickedly funny story of a chance relationship between two 14-year old black youth, living in the same city, but growing up in totally different worlds. Marquis is a book smart prep-schooler living with his adoptive white family in the affluent suburb of Achievement Heights, obsessed with the philosophy of Nietzsche; Tru is a street savvy kid from the inner city of Baltimore, obsessed with Tupac. Their worlds overlap in a holding cell, a first for Marquis, who has been protected by his family’s privilege, but all too familiar to Tru. They butt heads, debate, wrestle and ultimately prove Nietzsche and Tupac were really saying the same thing.
From Director, Anthony Richardson: Tru and Marquis are two young kids from opposite sides of the tracks who cross paths in a jail cell. Tru will try to instill lessons of survival in Marquis, which will offer him a portal into an untapped cultural knowledge that can’t be duplicated, even when outside forces work diligently to steal the “secret.” At the core, Hooded is a pseudo-satirical examination of “culture as mask or costume” and the social dynamics that exist in the lead-up to racialized violence against black people. Black men and white men; black men and white women; white women and white men; and now, due to casting, a possible glimpse of all those in relation to black women.
As we count down the last days of 2017, New York City's top theatre critics have been taking stock of the theatre season- deciding on their personal choices for their favorite productions of the year. With so many stellar plays, musicals, revivals and new works, both on Broadway and off, a slew of shows have gained recognition from the critics this year.
The third show of Mosaic Theater Company's ambitious third season will be The Real Americans, a one-man show written and starring Bay Area sensation and now NYC-based performing artist Dan Hoyle.
National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, celebrates the opening of three Rolling World Premieres: Project Dawn by Karen Hartman, The Arsonists by Jacqueline Goldfinger, and Br'er Cotton by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm. Scroll down for details on each production!
Lynchburg, Virginia. The former site of a thriving cotton mill is now an impoverished neighborhood. Deeply affected by all of the recent killings, of young black men like himself, Ruffrino, a 14 year old militant, incites riots at school and online. More and more at odds with his mother and grandfather, the boys' anger grows beyond containment while the family home literally sinks into the cotton field, and no one seems to notice but him.
Mosaic Theater Company of DC, the 2017 Helen Hayes Award-winning theatre for Outstanding Emerging Company, will begin its 2017-2018 season with the Off-Broadway hit The Devil's Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith. Written by Angelo Parra and performed by the indomitable Miche Braden (who also directed and arranged the music) and directed by Joe Brancato, this boisterous show featuring thirteen songs tells the story of Bessie Smith's final performance after she and her band are turned away from a whites-only theatre in 1937 Memphis. Previews begin August 24 with a press opening of Monday, August 28, and the show runs through September 24, with a potential extension week through October 1.
Mosaic Theater Company of DC, the 2017 Helen Hayes Award-winning theatre for Outstanding Emerging Company, proudly announces an expansion of its senior artistic leadership team with the addition of Victoria Murray Baatin as Associate Artistic Director. The Mosaic Board has also recently elected Bill Tompkins as its Chair. Outgoing Board Chair Deborah Carliner, who has served Mosaic since its Inaugural Season, will continue to serve on the Board of Directors.
National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, cheers the first opening of its 70th Rolling World Premiere, Br'er Cotton by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm. The play, which was seen at the 2016 National Showcase of New Plays in Austin, Texas, will open at Core Member Kitchen Dog Theater (Dallas, TX) on June 9 and run until July 1.
National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, announces its 70th and 71st Rolling World Premieres: Br'er Cotton by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm and Project Dawn by Karen Hartman. The two plays will receive a total of 6 NNPN RWP productions, with each play seeing at least three distinct productions in a discrete 12-month period.
Mosaic Theater Company of DC presents the culmination of its expansive and hugely successful second season with the 2017 Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival. This year's festival is of particular resonance in this 50th year since the Six Day War and the start of The Occupation, and focuses on two taut dramas about the lives, circumstances, and humanity of Palestinians in Israel and Gaza.
New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) has announced five productions as part of its complete 2017/18 Season.
Mosaic Theater Company of DC announces its most ambitious and theatrically varied lineup to date with its 2017-18 season. Compelled to respond to changing and challenging times in our country, Season Three grapples with our current political climate, celebrating outspoken heroines (of fluid gender and sexuality) in two new musicals, while embracing documentary inspired reportage, sharp political and social satire, and stirring family drama.
Catholic University M.F.A. playwriting candidates Garret Lee Milton and Rebecca Dzida will have the chance this week to watch fully-mounted productions of their original thesis works in the University's Hartke Theatre.
The 'play that changed American theater forever' (New York Times) comes to Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater for the first time ever this spring.
Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm's new play Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies, receiving its world premiere with Mosaic Theatre Company, examines the dangers of identity, prejudice and identity politics from a variety of angles. This is an unforgettable, complex study in identity that for all of its tricks and turns is one of the more psychologically, spiritually rich plays you are likely to see on the stage.
Hooded, Or Being Black for Dummies, a World Premiere by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm, will be directed by Serge Seiden (When January Feels Like Summer, Bad Jews) and associate directed by Vaughn Ryan Midder for Mosaic Theater Company of DC. Performances will run at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, Sprenger Theatre, January 25-February 19, 2017.
Hooded, Or Being Black for Dummies, a World Premiere by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm, will be directed by Serge Seiden (When January Feels Like Summer, Bad Jews) and associate directed by Vaughn Ryan Midder for Mosaic Theater Company of DC. Performances will run at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, Sprenger Theatre, January 25-February 19, 2017. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the stars in character below!
Hooded, Or Being Black for Dummies, a World Premiere by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm, will be directed by Serge Seiden (When January Feels Like Summer, Bad Jews) and associate directed by Vaughn Ryan Midder for Mosaic Theater Company of DC. Performances will run at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, Sprenger Theatre, January 25-February 19, 2017. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the stars in character below!
Mosaic Theater Company of DC's 'Clamorous Encounters' series about coming-of-age in America continues with Philip Dawkins' groundbreaking comedy-drama CHARM (January 5-29, 2017), under the direction of one of DC's most innovative directors, Natsu Onoda Power (The T Party, Wind Me Up Maria: A Go-Go Musical).
National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, is pleased to present the 15th annual National Showcase of New Plays (NSNP).
Mosaic Theater Company of DC's 'Clamorous Encounters' series about coming-of-age in America continues with Philip Dawkins' groundbreaking comedy-drama CHARM (January 5-29, 2017), under the direction of one of DC's most innovative directors, Natsu Onoda Power (The T Party, Wind Me Up Maria: A Go-Go Musical).
Hot on the heels of the record-breaking, critically hailed Satchmo at the Waldorf, Mosaic Theater Company of DC's Season Two continues with Kirsten Greenidge's riotous, Obie Award-winning MILK LIKE SUGAR (November 2 - 27, 2016), under the direction of Mosaic Theater's Jennifer L. Nelson (The Gospel of Lovingkindness). The play, Mosaic's second DC premiere this season, is a rousing story about young women coming of age in a time when issues of acceptance, mentorship, and materialism challenge the dreams and ambitious of so many teens. It is the first of three plays in Mosaic's 2016-17 season to highlight issues affecting young urban teens and millennials, to be followed by the DC premiere of Philip Dawkins' intergenerational LGBTQ comedy Charm, and the world premiere of Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm's Hooded: Or Being Black for Dummies.
Hot on the heels of the record-breaking, critically hailed Satchmo at the Waldorf, Mosaic Theater Company of DC's Season Two continues with Kirsten Greenidge's riotous, Obie Award-winning MILK LIKE SUGAR (November 2 - 27, 2016), under the direction of Mosaic Theater's Jennifer L. Nelson (The Gospel of Lovingkindness). The play, Mosaic's second DC premiere this season, is a rousing story about young women coming of age in a time when issues of acceptance, mentorship, and materialism challenge the dreams and ambitious of so many teens. It is the first of three plays in Mosaic's 2016-17 season to highlight issues affecting young urban teens and millennials, to be followed by the DC premiere of Philip Dawkins' intergenerational LGBTQ comedy Charm, and the world premiere of Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm's Hooded: Or Being Black for Dummies.
Hot on the heels of the record-breaking, critically hailed Satchmo at the Waldorf, Mosaic Theater Company of DC's Season Two continues with Kirsten Greenidge's riotous, Obie Award-winning MILK LIKE SUGAR (November 2 - 27, 2016), under the direction of Mosaic Theater's Jennifer L. Nelson (The Gospel of Lovingkindness). Click below to watch a new teaser for the show, plus a signed intro touting Mosaic's new accessibility initiative!
Today's subject is living his theatre life to the fullest. Ari Roth might be one of the most passionate and outspoken figures working in DC theatre. One thing is clear, he follows his passion and the result is always something extraordinary.
Hot on the heels of the record-breaking, critically hailed Satchmo at the Waldorf, Mosaic Theater Company of DC's Season Two continues with Kirsten Greenidge's riotous, Obie Award-winning MILK LIKE SUGAR (November 2 - 27, 2016), under the direction of Mosaic Theater's Jennifer L. Nelson (The Gospel of Lovingkindness). Click below to watch a new teaser for the show, plus a signed intro touting Mosaic's new accessibility initiative!
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