FREEDA PEOPLES, Woodie King, Melba Moore and Rome Neal at the National Black Theatre Festival

Posted by Lia Chang on Sunday, 17 July 2005.

FREEDA PEOPLES, Woodie King, Melba Moore and Rome Neal at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston Salem, NC

Just finished an intense two month run at the Billie Holiday Theatre appearing on stage with Jerome Preston Bates, E.L. Janie, Dianne Kirksey and Peggie Alston in Lorey Hayes' political drama POWER PLAY directed by Marjorie Moon. The play will be included in the Lincoln Center Library's Bound Edition of the 2005 Highlights of the New York Theater Season.

I caught up with Lorey in New York at the New Federal Theatre Marvtastic Bash for Larry Leon Hamlin, the founder, producer and artistic director of the National Black Theatre Festival , the premier celebration of African American in the arts held in Winston-Salem, North Carolina from August 1-6, 2005.

Next up for the actress/playwright is a reading of THE DRAGONFLY TALE , a play Lorey co-wrote with Bobby Crear, at the 13th Street Repertory Company Theatre on April 24th at 4:30 in New York.
The Dragonfly Tale

Our colleagues Peggy Alston and Jerome Preston Bates from POWERPLAY will be performing in the Billie Holiday Theatres blockbuster production of Joyce Sylvesters FREEDA PEOPLES at the National Black Theatre Festival , Aug. 2-4, 2005. The hilarious play, set in a church, deals with the relationships between the deacons, the trustees and the new pastor. No one is really who they seem to be in this comedy drama which will have you rolling in the aisles. Hal Williams, Marilyn Coleman, Jammie Patton, Kim Sullivan and William Williams round out the cast.

FREEDA PEOPLES Aug 2-4, 2005
3 and 8 p.m. Embassy Suites, Pavilion. Tickets $40.
Tickets are available online at www.nbtf.org, by phone, 336-723-7907, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; at the box office, 610 Coliseum Drive, at the Benton Convention Center or at the theaters before each performance.

On this sultry summer afternoon, Lorey and I join over 125 actors, activists, artists and authors at St. Augustine's Parish on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to celebrate Woodie King's New Federal Theatre and Larry Leon Hamlin. In the early 90's, I was energized and inspired my first time at the National Black Theatre Festival when I participated in the Midnight Playreading Series, acting in a reading of POWER PLAY produced by Woodie King, Jr. and Voza Rivers. The New Federal Theatre , which has fostered excellence in Black theatre for 35 years, will be honored with the Theatre Company Longevity Award this year at the Festival .

The Festival , founded by Larry Leon Hamlin in 1989, was this maverick's effort to unite Black theatre companies in America and ensure the survival of the genre into the next millennium. The founder, executive and artistic director of the North Carolina Black Repertory Company (NCBRC) , Hamlin established the company in 1979. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, NCBRC was the first professional Black theatre company established in North Carolina. The National Black Theatre Festival is an international outreach program of the NCBRC.

Held biennially, the Festival features performances by 32 of the best Black theatre companies from the United States, Europe, Africa and the Carribean spanning a six-day period with enthusiastic audiences numbering more than 50,000.

In transit from Winston-Salem, Hamlin is delayed in Baltimore. Instead, a number of artists at the party performing at the Festival this year relate their experiences, including Rome Neal, the multi-award winning actor/director and artistic theatre director of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe who is returning to the Festival this year with MONK , his critically acclaimed dramatic one-man show about the great and enigmatic piano player Thelonious Monk wriiten by Laurence Holder and featuring a new musical score by composer Bill Lee (DO THE RIGHT THING and MO BETTA BLUES ).
www.monktheplay.com

MONK Aug. 2-4, 2005
3 and 8 p.m. The Ring Theatre, Wake Forest University. Tickets $35.

Castmembers on hand from two New Federal productions invited to the Festival include Thayis Walsh, Trish McCall and Ron Scott from WAITIN' 2 END HELL by William A. Parker, and Melba Moore, who stops by after the matinee of her one woman autobiographic play with music, MELBA MOORE: SWEET SONGS OF THE SOUL . Back by popular demand for a limited run at New Federal through July 30th, Melba treats us to her rendition of the other side of the rainbow .

Aug. 5-6, 2005 Winston-Salem, North Carolina
WAITIN' 2 END HELL : 3 and 8 p.m., the Proscenium Theatre, Wake Forest University. It's a bitter fight between the sexes. Tickets $35.
MELBA MOORE: SWEET SONGS OF THE SOUL 3 and 8 p.m., Williams Auditorium, WSSU. Melba Moore: Sweet Songs of the Soul, starring and produced by Melba Moore

Over 70 African American celebrities of stage, screen and television will kick off the 16th Anniversary National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C. with a special tribute to the late legendary Ossie Davis at the Opening Night Gala and Awards Ceremony on August 1. This year, highlights include more than 100 performances, seminars and workshops including the International Colloquium, the Readers Theatre of New Works, the Midnight Poetry Jam, the Youth/Celebrity Project, youth performances and talent shows, story telling, the Film Festival and The NBTF Fringe--a Program designed to support and showcase collegiate theatre in addition to an International Vendors Market stocked with items from around the globe. This international celebration and reunion of the spirit is not to be missed.

Complete List of 16th Anniversary Award Winners
Sidney Poitier Lifelong Achievement Award: Katherine Dunham, Douglas Turner Ward, The late Oscar Brown, Jr.
Larry Leon Hamlin Producer's Award: Jackie Taylor
August Wilson's Playwright Award: Lynn Nottage
Lloyd Richards' Director's Award: Seret Scott, Kenny Leon
Living Legends Awards: Arthur Mitchell, Antonio Fargas, Sam Greenlee, Irma P. Hall, Linda Hopkins, Vernell Lillie
Lifelong Achievement in Costume Design: Karen Perry
Lifelong Achievement in Film: Robert Townsend, Jeff Byrd, Melvin Van Peebles
Lifelong Achievement in Radio: Tom Joyner
Theatre Company Longevity Award: Karamu House celebrating 64 years, New Federal Theatre celebrating 35 years