0
1
3
2
George Faison
\ Accept J
I "Except"
LGBT NY
Wake Forest's
The Ring Theatre
Tues, Aug. 4 8 p.m.
Wed, Aug. 5 3 p.m.
Wed, Aug. 5 8 p.m.
Thurs, Aug. 6 8 p.m.
$41
The thought-provoking "Accept 'Except" series is back.
"Accept "Except" Male" was a standout hit at the 2013 NBTF. "Accept
'Except' LGBT NY" is being staged this year by Woodie King Jrs New
Federal Theatre. Writer Karimah created the series to examine various angles
of the dichotomy that is the 13th Amendment, which effectively ended
slavery when it became law in December 1865. But the writer maintains
that slavery still exists. Chains have been replaced by steel bars, she says, as
prisons have become the new plantation. Karimah says the public should
"accept" that all are free "except" the millions who are not.
"There were approximately 400,000 slaves in the U.S. in 1860, and as of
2011, there were estimated to be 6,977,700 adult citizens under correctional
supervision," she told Broadway World. "Each of these individuals had/has a
different story to tell. "Accept 'Except" is a vehicle for the telling."
The LGBT NY story is about the struggle for justice from the time of slavery
to modern-day gay rights. It centers around two twenty-somethings who are
brought together after each is chased by an angry mob. The female character,
a lesbian, outruns a group of gay-bashers in Central Park and hides herself
in a tree. There, she encounters the ghost of an 18th century slave, a closeted
gay man, who was hanged from the tree more than 200 years earlier.
The play debuted at the legendary New Federal Theatre last year with
Tuluv Maria Price and Tyree Young in the lead roles. George Faison, the
award-winning producer, writer, composer, directotfchoreographer and
dancer, is the director. Faison won a Tony for choreographing "The Wiz"
in 1975, becoming the first African-American to win in that category.
On Broadway, he has also choreographed "Porgy and Bess," "Purlie" and
"Don't Bother Me I Can't Cope." He has produced and directed a number
of original productions at Harlem's Faison Firehouse Theater, which he
co-founded in 2000 with Tad Schnugg.
Karimah, a member of the Harlem Playwrights 21 Workshop, earned an
undergraduate degree from the University of the District of Columbia and a
MFA from Columbia University. ?