[NEohioPAL] Project1voice benefit staged reading TROUBLE IN MIND - June 20th, 2011

[DALE SHIELDS]

PROJECT1VOICE 
ANNOUNCES 
“1VOICE-1PLAY-1DAY”
A NATIONAL CELEBRATION OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN THEATRE
WITH BENEFIT STAGED READINGS OF 
ALICE CHILDRESS’ CLASSIC PLAY
“TROUBLE IN MIND ”
RAINEY INSTITUTE
1705 East 55th Street
Cleveland, Ohio 
ON MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2011 7:00 pm
 

“Black Theater in America is alive…it is vital…it just isn’t funded.”
August Wilson
 
May 2, 2011 (New York, NY) Today, Project1Voice, a newly established organization founded by New York-based actor/producer Erich McMillan-McCall to preserve the legacy of African-American theatre and playwrights, announced its inaugural event: 
1VOICE, 1 PLAY, 1 DAY.
 

The performance benefit event will take place at Rainey Institute in the new Debra Ann November Theatre at 7:00 pm. 
 
The Cast will include: Conni Blair, George Roth, Peter Lawson Jones, Mariama Whyte, Leslie Feagan, Colston Skip Corris, Brian Pedaci, Hannah Stofan, Antuane Rodgers and Anthony E. Nickerson-El. The staged reading will be directed by Dale Ricardo Shields.  
Tickets are $35.00.  The Box Office opens on June 16th, 2011.
 
 
On Monday, June 20, 2011, seventeen African-American theatres across the country will engage in a national day of celebration of Black theatre by producing benefit staged readings of Trouble In Mind, the classic comedy-drama, by Alice Childress, the first African-American playwright to be honored with an Obie Award. The participating theatres are: African Continuum Theatre (Washington, DC), African American Repertory Theatre (DeSoto, TX), Aldridge Repertory Theatre (Birmingham, AL), The Billie Holiday Theatre (Brooklyn, NY), Crossroads Theatre (New Brunswick, NY), Congo Square Theatre (Chicago, IL), Ebony Repertory Theatre (Los Angeles, CA), Freedom Theatre (Philadelphia, PA), Jubilee Theatre (Fort Worth, TX), Rainey Institute / Karamu House Theatre (Cleveland, OH), Kuntu Repertory Theatre (Pittsburgh, PA), Lorraine Hansbury Theatre (San Francisco, CA), Negro Ensemble Company (New York, NY), New Federal Theatre (New York, NY), New Professional Theatre (New York, NY), The Ensemble Theatre (Houston, TX) and Uprooted (Milwaukee, WI).
 

There will be a talkback following the reading.  
 
The talkback panelist include;
Dorothy Silver, Tony Brown, Dr. Yvonne Williams, Dr. Alphine Jefferson, Artis Gaines, Margaret Taylor Ford,  Ansley Valentine, Michael Medcalf and Sarah May.
 
This national day of celebration not only honors the late great playwright’s seminal work,
but seeks to highlight the Black theatre companies who are struggling for their very existence. It is imperative that our community spark renewed interest in the art, the artists and the organizations which nurture them. Project1Voice is proud to take on the challenge of trumpeting our artistic resources so that they can sustain themselves now and into the future. Project1Voice is a national grassroots movement designed to cultivate artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation among African American theatre organizations, along with preserving their legacies and those of African American playwrights. These theatres remain at the forefront of developing and sustaining African-American playwrights, directors, actors and other theater professionals. In 2010, McMillan-McCall became acutely aware that theatres across the country, especially historically African-American theatres, were struggling to stay afloat during the economic downturn. With this in mind, he partnered with other concerned individuals to bring attention and assistance to these mainstays of employment for theatre artists of color, and thus, Project1Voice was born. Key members of the Project1Voice team are producer/production manager Gwen Gilliam, award-winning playwright and director Charles Randolph-Wright, actor/producer Charles Reese (Teeth and Eyes Productions) and Marcia Pendelton (Walk Tall Girl Productions). 1VOICE, 1PLAY, 1DAY readings of Trouble in Mind will not only serve as fundraisers for participating theaters, they will also act as an community engagement event to further develop audiences, recruit volunteers, attract corporate and foundation funding, and seek in-kind goods and services.
 

For more information about PROJECT1VOICE, and see interviews with theater luminaries such as prolific producer Woodie King, Jr., Tony-Award winner Adriane Lenox, and Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, visit www.project1voice.org.
 
About Trouble in Mind*
Trouble in Mind is a powerfully incendiary and satiric drama based on the conflict of not compromising one’s artistic integrity. This play within a play follows the journey of a mixed-raced cast in 1957 as they embark upon rehearsals for a racially-charged play. Childress shows the actors’ complaints, directors’ frustration and even with the well-meaning efforts of theater professionals to overcome their racial feelings. As the play unfolds each character is revealed, along with their cavalier approach to the scripts they hold. There is so much humor that the playwright's theme within the theme will leave today’s modern audience marveling at how insightful and fresh the play feels today.
 
*Trouble in Mind Permission granted by Flora Roberts, Inc. 275 Seventh Ave. New York, NY 10001

Dale R. Shields
ricardo2541 at msn.com











 		 	   		  
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