[Capdist-announce] Albany Civic Theater presents George C. Wolfe's The Colored Museum

[Karen Christina Jones]

[image: Inline image 1]


Albany Civic Theater presents
George C. Wolfe's
The Colored Museum

directed by Karen Christina Jones
choreography and assistant direction by Beth Cassidy
music by Hayes M. Fields II

The Colored Museum presents 11 hilarious “exhibits” of African-American
culture — from the depths of the Celebrity Slaveship to the spinning
heights of Harlem. Tony Award winner George C. Wolfe’s groundbreaking
comedy has electrified, discomforted, and delighted audiences of all
colors, skewering stereotypes and redefining what it means to be Black in
contemporary America.

Dramatis personae
Mike Banks, Earl V. Belcher, Alyssa Brayboy, Chevell Edwards, Jasmine
Liverpool, Kiera Lukasik, Zoey Lukasik, Jason Tillery, Shakeya Ware, and
Gwen Wright

Breakdown of Scenes

Git on Board: Miss Pat, a flight attendant, welcomes the audience aboard
the fictional “celebrity slaveship,” whose Savannah-bound journey from the
Ivory Coast demands that passengers (audience) are to obey the “Fasten
Shackles” sign and are not to rebel. The sketch explores and critiques the
history of African Americans, from slavery to the regency of the basketball
star.

Cooking' with Aunt Ethel: Aunt Ethel host a cooking show in which she sings
the recipe on how to “bake yourself a batch of Negros.”

Soldier with a Secret: In a monologue, deranged African American soldier
sees his peer’s painful future and chooses to spare them the inevitable by
killing them before they are forced to endure what their future holds.

The Hairpiece: A woman getting ready for a date is faced with an identity
crisis when her two wigs, one a 1960’s afro wig, the other a “long flowing
wig,” come to life and “debate the ideological identity conflicts they
represented in their owner’s life for 20 years.

The Last Mama-on-the-Couch Play: Presented by a “Masterpiece Theater”-type
announcer, this exhibit explores and satirizes Black drama formula used in
theater and film. Some characters include a “well worn” mama on her “well
worn” couch who fights with her son Walter-Lee-Beau-Willie-Jones whose
“brow is heavy from three hundred years of oppression.”The Last
Mama-on-the-Couch is Wolfe’s parody of Raisin in the Sun and goes from
overacted melodrama to an all-Black broadway musical number.

Symbiosis: A man is confronted by his former childhood self while trying to
throwing away his past, “only to discover that his rebellious younger self
refuses to be trashed without a fight.”

Lala's Opening: Singer Lala Lamazing Grace is haunted by her former
childhood self. An identity she thought she disposed of.

Permutations: A monologue in which Normal Jean, a young southern girl,
explains to the audience how she laid a giant egg which is filled with
babies.

The Photo Session: A glamorous Black couple wearing “the best of everything
and perfect smiles,” retreat from their past/history into a superficial
world of narcissistic glamour.The Photo Session is Wolfe’s critique on the
images and models of Ebony magazine.



The Party: Topsy Washington imagines a huge party in which “Nat Turner sips
champagne out of Earth Kitt's slipper” and “Aunt Jemima and Angela Davis
was in the kitchen sharing a plate of greens and just goin’ off about South
Africa.”This exhibit merges the past and present to create Topsy’s fantasy
party which defies logic and limitations.

Production dates are  Friday, June 19th at 7.30pm; Saturday, June 20th at
7.30pm; and Sunday, June 21st at 3.00pm

Admission: $10.00

For reservations call: 518-462-1297




-- 
Karen Christina Jones
518-227-0154

Sent from my iPad
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