[Theater News\Apollo]
Kamilah Forbes, Apollo Theater Executive Producer: “For this staged adaptation, I really wanted to infuse the voices of Black changemakers and members of our community that would not only illuminate the language written by Ta-Nehisi, but also underscore the urgency in our communities surrounding the important and ongoing issues.”
Photo: WIkimedia Commons
Golden Globe and Emmy award-winning actress Lynn Whitfield has been added to Apollo Theater’s stage adaptation of Between the World and Me.
The legendary Apollo Theater announces additional casting for the encore production of the critically acclaimed staged adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me on Friday, October 25, running through Monday, October 28.
Additions include rapper, actor, and activist Tip “T.I.” Harris; Omar J. Dorsey (“Queen Sugar,” “When They See Us”); Lynn Whitfield (“Greenleaf,” “Hit the Floor”); and hip-hop artist and playwright Dahlak Brathwaite (“Def Jam Poetry”) have joined the previously announced Michelle Wilson (Sweat); Pauletta Washington (Philadelphia, Antwone Fisher); artist, poet, and TED Global Fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph; and actor Greg Alverez Reid (Between the World and Me).
Developed and directed by Apollo Theater Executive Producer Kamilah Forbes, the production features original music composed by MacArthur “Genius” Jason Moran and performed live by his trio, featuring bassist Mimi Jones and drummer Nate Smith. Additional casting to be announced at a later date.
“For this staged adaptation, I really wanted to infuse the voices of Black changemakers and members of our community that would not only illuminate the language written by Ta-Nehisi, but also underscore the urgency in our communities surrounding the important and ongoing issues,” said Kamilah Forbes, Apollo Theater Executive Producer.
Throughout the development process of the Between the World and Me, Coates has been collaborating with the Theater, and he will now call the Apollo—widely considered the epicenter of Black culture—a home for the next three years as its inaugural Master Artist-in-Residence. The initiative kicked-off with a sold-out evening featuring Coates in conversation with Oprah Winfrey about his latest work, The Water Dancer, on the day on which it was chosen to re-launch Oprah’s Book Club. Subsequent programs in the residency will take place on the Apollo’s iconic stage and in the new Apollo spaces in the Victoria Theater in Fall 2020, further deepening the relationship between Coates and the Apollo.
Prior to the Harlem run, Between the World and Me will play for two performances at Atlanta Symphony Hall on Tuesday, October 22, presented by The Collective Culture in collaboration with the Apollo. With additional stops to be announced at a later time, the tour takes difficult but necessary conversations around Black life and death and places them center stage.
For more info visit:https://www.apollotheater.org/event/between-the-world-and-me-2019/2019-10-25/
Tickets for Between the World and Me are available now at www.apollotheater.org/btwam;the Apollo Theater Box Office at (212) 531-5305 or 253 West 125thStreet; and Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000 or www.ticketmaster.com/promo/nr02sp.
ABOUT THE APOLLO THEATER:
The legendary Apollo Theater—the soul of American culture—plays a vital role in cultivating emerging artists and launching legends. Since its founding, the Apollo has served as a center of innovation and a creative catalyst for Harlem, the city of New York, and the world.With music at its core, the Apollo’s programming extends to dance, theater, spoken word, and more. This includes special programs such as the blockbuster concert Bruno Mars Live at the Apollo,100: The Apollo Celebrates Ella, the annual Africa Now! Festival, and the New York premiere of the opera We Shall Not Be Moved.
The Apollo is a performing arts presenting organization that also produces festivals and large-scale dance and music works organized around a set of core initiatives that celebrate and extendthe Apollo’s legacy through a contemporary lens; global festivals including the Women of the World (WOW) Festival and Breakin’ Convention, international and U.S.-based artist presentations focused on a specific theme; and Special Projects, multidisciplinary collaborations with partner organizations. Since introducing the first Amateur Nightcontests in 1934, the Apollo Theater has served as a testing ground for new artists working across a variety of art forms and has ushered in the emergence of many new musical genres—including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul, and hip-hop. Among the countless legendary performers who launched their careers at the Apollo are D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, Machine Gun Kelly, Miri Ben Ari, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, and Stevie Wonder; and the Apollo’s forward-looking artistic vision continues to build on this legacy.
