Playwright Moses T. Alexander Greene To Return 'Home' With Award-Winning Play

Playwright/Author Moses T. Alexander Greene today announced that his award-winning play Pooled: A Gospel Musical Drama will make its regional premiere this summer at the Bowie Center for the Performing Arts.

"I am elated that after years of workshopping Pooled, a sold-out world premiere and touring throughout North Carolina, I've been afforded the opportunity to premiere it here at 'home'," said the former DC and Maryland resident. "Because this play contains music and stories I wrote 20 years ago and depicts some of my personal struggles while I was a resident, to see it brought to life here is truly a full circle moment." Greene lived in the Washington Metropolitan Area from 1999 to 2010.

Pooled made its national debut at the National Black Theatre Festival (NBTF) in 2019 where it was named "one of the 25 best Black theatre productions in the United States, Europe, the Caribbean, and Africa." According to Jackie Alexander, artistic director for the North Carolina Black Repertory Company, the producers of the NBTF, "It just jumped out at us when we saw it. Pooled is breaking the mold of what people think of in terms of traditional gospel musicals."

In 2019, Pooled became the first production in the festival's history to sell out its performances during its inaugural selection. Additionally, in 2021 Greene received the BroadwayWorld Award for "Original Script of the Decade" for the Raleigh market. He is hopeful the play will be selected again for the 2022 NBTF this August.

Pooled is about Delsin Jacobs' arrival to the Pool of Bethesda and his single-minded determination to be the next person to receive its healing properties. According to legend, the first person to step in the Pool after its waters are touched by an angel (troubled) is healed completely of any infirmity-physical, emotional, mental, relational, spiritual, sexual. Though driven by a resolve to receive a healing that enables him to see what his heart looked like before he was sexually abused as a child, it is Delsin's interactions with others gathered at the Pool that causes him to question the purity of his quest. When his moment presents itself, he is made to confront whether he wants to be the only one healed or not.

Pooled features new cast member and Prince George's County resident Tamika Law and a special appearance by native Washingtonian Rev. Angelia Garner Rowe, Esq. Valencia Yearwood, Broadway producer (For Colored Girls, Thoughts of a Colored Man) and Broadway stage veteran (Once Upon a Mattress, The Lion King) serves as production consultant.

Greene, a native of Long Island, New York, moved to the DMV in 1999, shortly after leaving his position as writers' assistant of ABC's All My Children. During his nearly 12-year residency, he served as strategic communications officer of Prince George's County Public Schools, public information officer in the Executive Office of the Mayor and for several District of Columbia Government agencies, and as an adjunct English professor at Prince George's County Public Schools. A licensed minister, he was also a member of the First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Upper Marlboro, serving mostly in music and arts ministry.

"I hope those with whom my life intersected while I lived here and all who know theater can be a balm of healing, joy, remembrance, laughter, forgiveness and love would come see the show and feel the power of their own pool experience," Greene continued.

There are four performances of Pooled: A Gospel Musical Drama: Friday, June 10 at 8 pm, Saturday, June 11 at 2 pm and 8 pm, and Sunday, June 12 at 3 pm. Tickets range from $37 (mezzanine) to $42 (orchestra) and can be purchased at www.bowiecenter.org Group sales (10 or more) are available by calling the BCPA Box Office at (301) 805-6880.

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