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DIVERSE EXPERIENCES SPOTLIGHTED.
NEW VOICES & TALENTS AMPLIFIED.
URBAN STAGES IS WHERE STORIES ARE TOLD.
JUNE 24 - 28, 2021
Stories From Our Stage
We are celebrating the many different stories and voices that our stage amplifies. JOIN US RIGHT HERE for a special virtual presentation featuring excerpts from select hit plays and musicals that premiered at Urban Stages and centered diverse artists to tell stories not often told. PLUS, sit in on conversations with the creators behind these hit works.
This FREE special presentation is an online fundraising event. Donations are strongly encouraged. Urban Stages is looking to welcome theatergoers back to its Manhattan location this summer and we need your help to open our doors!
Join us for Opening Night |
• Get EARLY ACCESS to the show starting on June 24 at 7:30pm (EST) for our Opening Night launch. And you'll have access to the show and exclusive content thru June 28 so watch it ANYTIME even if you can't make the launch on the 24th!
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Get EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to a talkback about the state of theater post-pandemic with Michael Riedel, an American theatre critic, broadcaster, and columnist. He is the co-host of "Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning" on 710 WOR in New York City, weekdays 6-10am. Riedel has been a controversial and influential Broadway columnist of the New York Post for over 20 years. He is the author of Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway and Singular Sensation: The Triumph of Broadway.
• Best of all, DIRECTLY SUPPORT Urban Stages' programming with your ticket purchase. Tickets are $150+. All tickets receive the same perks, but you can choose to donate at higher levels. All tickets are completely tax-deductible.
Admission-Free Access |
Starting June 25 thru June 28, watch this special event for free right here and remember to donate to support championing diverse artists and to make sure art, theater and education is available to all.
The following plays premiered at Urban Stages and will be featured in Stories From Our Stage via scenes performed by original cast members.
DOGS OF RWANDA
by Sean Christopher Lewis.
Directed by Frances Hill & Peter Napolitano.
Featuring Dan Hodge.
Music composed and performed by Abou Lion Diarra
2019 NY Premiere. Dogs of Rwanda is set against powerful original percussion and it is a haunting drama that asks if redemption and forgiveness are always possible.
“Dogs of Rwanda isn’t easy to watch, but it’s impossible to turn away from the truth of what happened and the riveting production at Urban Stages,” Deb Miller, DC Metro.
A DEAL
by Zhu Yi.
Directed by John Giampietro.
Excerpt features Alan Ariano & Pun Bandhu
2017 World Premiere. A Deal is a dark comedy that features a Chinese family’s home buying journey, and reveals ideological conflicts between the East and the West in contemporary society.
“A play that was crying to be written, its subject matter now front and center. It touches many of the great issues of today: Chinese values versus American; the family versus the individual; what constitutes truth and in whose eyes; the immigrant’s dilemma—to remain voluntarily ghettoized or to assimilate,” Beatrice Williams-Rude, Theaterpizzazz.
LANGSTON IN HARLEM
Book by Walter Marks, Kent Gash, Langston Hughes.
Lyrics by Langston Hughes.
Music by Walter Marks.
Directed by Kent Gash.
Excerpt features Josh Tower & C. Kelly Wright with musical director John DiPinto.
2010 World Premiere. Langston is Harlem follows the famed poet’s emergence during the Harlem Renaissance against a backdrop of jazz, gospel, and rhythm and blues.
“Urban Stages has itself a fresh, original winner…and a crackerjack 12-person cast delivers the show with rich humanity and flair,” Erik Haagensen, Backstage.com.
HONKY
Written by Greg Kalleres.
Directed by Luke Harlan.
Excerpt features Dave Droxler & Arie Bianca Thompson.
2013 World Premiere. Honky is a darkly comedic look at five people, white and black, as they navigate the muddy waters of race, advertising and basketball shoes.
NEW YORK TIMES CRITIC’S PICK. “A daffy treat, irreverently tackling a subject that appears destined to be forever uncomfortable: race,” Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times.
MABEL MADNESS
Written By and Starring Tony Award Winner Trezana Beverley.
Directed by Frances Hill & Peter Napolitano.
2016 World Premiere. Mabel Madness is the dramatic life story of Mabel Mercer, the rarely heralded black British singer that influenced the likes of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Billie Holiday.
“When Ms. Beverley sings, she makes the case beautifully for Mercer’s greatness of style. The show’s numbers include a delightful “Just One of Those Things” (in which she alternates between singing as Sinatra and as Mercer).” Anita Gates, The New York Times
BARS & MEASURES
by Idris Goodwin.
Directed by Kristan Seemel.
Excerpt features Roderick Lawrence.
2019 NY premiere. Inspired by a true story, Bars & Measures is a tale of two brothers trying to reconcile their differences through the language they know best, music, as one brother awaits trial in jail for supporting a terror cell.
“Idris Goodwin’s play “Bars and Measures,” making its New York premiere in Kristan Seemel’s smart, supple production,” Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times”
CHARMED LIFE:
From Soul Singing to Opera Star.
Written and performed by Lori Brown Mirabal.
Directed by Vincent Scott
In previews in 2020 before theaters closed due to Covid-19, Charmed Life is a feat of comedy, storytelling and opera with an award-winning soprano. It is set to come back to Urban Stages.
We wish to express our gratitude to the Performers Unions: Actors Equity Association, American Guild of Musical Artists, American Guild of Variety Artists, SAG-AFTRA through the Theatre Authority, Inc, for their cooperation in permitting the Artists to appear on this program.