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>> Nevis
Mountain Dew - April/May 2008
>> Ten Minute Play Festival2 -
February/March 2008
>> Passing Solo - February 2008
>> 365 Days of Plays -
April 2007
>> Encounters
- Retrospectives - February/March 2007
>> Ten Minute Play Festival -
January 2007
>>
Psychology of the X Chromosome - 2005
>> Treasures Awards - 2004
>> Passing - February/March 2004
>> Summers in Suffolk
- May/June 2003
>> Haints,
Conjuremen and Leaving - October/November 2003
>> The Start of
Conversation - February 2002
>> The Phonograph - June/July 2002
>> An American Tract - November/December 2002
>> Joleta - 2001/2002
>> Millennium in Black - 2001/2002
>> Passing
- February/March 1999
>> Passing - February/March
1998
>> Five on the
Black Hand Side - October/November 1998
>> Passing - 1997
>> Summers in Suffolk
- 1996
>> The Dance
Begins When the Waltz Goes Backwards - 1995/1996
>> Before 1950 - 1994
>> Walking With a Panther 1994
>> Science and the Primitives - 1994
>> The Hand of God - 1993
>> For Sale - 1993
>> The Play is the Thing - 1992photography by nathaniel bellamy
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>>
Nevis Mountain Dew - April/May 2008
The play is set in 1954 in Queens
(NY), where the family of Jared Philibert, who has long been
confined in an iron lung, gathers to celebrate his fiftieth
birthday. Present are his wife; his two sisters, who also live
in the house and care for him; the younger sister's boyfriend
(who has brought along a case of West Indian rum called "Nevis
Mountain Dew"); and a strapping young co-worker of his wife's.
As the rum flows so does the truth: the bitterness of the
sisters, who have sacrificed so much to look after their
brother; the still young and passionate wife, whose husband has
so long been a helpless invalid; and the young co-worker, whose
attraction to the wife is no longer a secret. In the end Jared,
aware that he is not the only one imprisoned by his condition,
resolves to set both himself and the others free, by pleading
with them to unplug the respirator, the "metal overcoat" in
which he has spent so many years. His plea is answered, but the
result is not the loss but rather the affirmation of life—which,
in Jared's view, must be experienced fully and joyfully or not
at all.
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365 Days-365 Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks. Towne Street Theatre
is proud to take part in this national project by the Pulitzer Prize winner
of "Top Dog/Underdog".
>> 365 Days of Plays -
April 2007
>>
Production Details
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Retrospectives - with Biscuit, CB and What-His-Face
and Very Strange Fruit from the hope and promise of
the Emancipation Proclamation to the reality promise became in 1964
Alabama.
Encounters - we move to the 21st Century
and see how far we have come and yet how the access we now possess has
created a disconnect permeating our society. Act 2 is a revival of
Jeff Stetson's The Meeting, which looks at what might have
happened if Martin Luther King and Malcolm X had met. What would
our lives be if they had been able to fulfill the hope and promise of
their dreams?
>> Encounters
- Retrospectives - February/March 2007
>>
Production Details and Reviews of Encounters -
Retrospectives
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 Psychology
of the Chromosome X
Kotex kleptomania. Depressed vaginas. Threesomes. No
topic is too off-limits in this outrageous seXploration of what it
means to be a woman. Told in a series of vignettes, Psychology of
Chromosome X will make you laugh, blow your mind … and maybe even get
you hot and bothered.
Written by Shontina Vernon, directed by Nancy Cheryll
Davis-Bellamy and featuring the Towne Street Theatre acting company.
Rated R.
>>
Psychology of the X Chromosome - 2005
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 Passing
- 2004
Towne Street Theater presents its highly praised production of Sheri
Bailey's play, itself an adaptation of Nella Larsen's bold Harlem
Renaissance novel about two black women in 1920s New York, and their
experiences with passing for white. Yet Passing is not just about racial
identity; it's about identity, period. The two main characters, Irene
and Clare, are estranged childhood friends who reunite after 20 years to
discover that they've both been living a lie.
>> Passing - February/March 2004
>>
Production Details
>>
Reviews of Passing
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 Haints,
Conjuremen and Leaving by David Lee Lindsey was the last show of our
tenth anniversary.Haints,
Conjuremen and Leaving carries on our theme of exploring African
American life in the South during the last half of the 20th Century.
Even though we were "free", we were still struggling ; we were not free
of the worry, the hate or the sorrow.
>> Haints,
Conjuremen and Leaving - October/November 2003
>>
Production Details
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Marrying plot intricacies worthy of Jane Austen and the
emotional expressiveness of contemporary African American voices,
Harriet A. Dickey's "Joleta" at the Stella Adler Theatre
proves a gripping, tightly scripted generational saga about a family
uncovering dark secrets in its painful history.
As in previous stagings, this revival of the Towne Street Theatre's
popular production sports different casts on alternating weekends (most
of the actors are veterans of the show). Clear, insightful direction by
Nancy Cheryll Davis-Bellamy emphasizes stereotype-free characters, no
matter which cast you end up seeing. In addition to its fine ensemble
performances, Dickey's play spins a suspenseful yarn.
>> Joleta - 2001/2002
>>
Production Details
>>
Reviews of Joleta
>>
View Photo Gallery of Joleta
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 The
Phonograph - Scenes in the Life of a Harlem Family by Loften Mitchell.
Our Black Classic Series presentation
The Phonograph continues our season' theme
of family. there is no better way to look at the Black family than
to visit 1930's Harlem where many African Americans came in search of a
better life.
>> The Phonograph - June/July 2002
>>
Production Details
>>
Reviews of The Phonograph
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 Set
in a California suburb in 1986, Barbara White-Morgan's play, neatly
directed by Roy Fegan, is about the ups and downs experienced by an
urban black family who acquire a home in an upscale, lily-white enclave.
Anne Jackson (Teressa Taylor), her boyfriend, Earl (Rico E. Anderson),
and Jack son's two sons, Jimmy (Christopher Richardson) and Rodney (Jarreau
James), are indeed aliens and alienated in a world of homeowner's fees
and regulations, debutante balls and snooping, snooty neighbors.
>> An American Tract - November/December 2002
>>
Production Details
>>
Reviews of American Tract
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 Passing
- 1999
Towne Street Theater presents its highly praised production of Sheri
Bailey's play, itself an adaptation of Nella Larsen's bold Harlem
Renaissance novel about two black women in 1920s New York, and their
experiences with passing for white. Yet Passing is not just about racial
identity; it's about identity, period. The two main characters, Irene
and Clare, are estranged childhood friends who reunite after 20 years to
discover that they've both been living a lie.
>> Passing
- February/March 1999
>>
View Photo Gallery of Passing
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 Passing
- 1998
Towne Street Theater presents its highly praised production of Sheri
Bailey's play, itself an adaptation of Nella Larsen's bold Harlem
Renaissance novel about two black women in 1920s New York, and their
experiences with passing for white. Yet Passing is not just about racial
identity; it's about identity, period. The two main characters, Irene
and Clare, are estranged childhood friends who reunite after 20 years to
discover that they've both been living a lie.
>> Passing - February/March
1998
>>
Production Details
>>
View Photo Gallery of Passing
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 Passing,
our first commissioned piece. Sponsored in part by a grant from the Los
Angeles County Arts Commission and written by Sheri Bailey, Passing is
set against the roaring 1920's and the Harlem Renaissance. Dealing with
the issue of a Black person passing for White, it centers on two
beautiful women making explosive choices about sexuality, race and
class. Overwhelming response extended a six week run to 10! Passing also
won Best Actress and Best Costume awards from the NAACP and was
nominated for Best Play, Best Playwright and Best Supporting Actor.
>> Passing - 1997
>>
View Photo Gallery of Passing
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Barbara White Morgan's play addresses some somber
contemporary issues: homelessness, race relations, and material greed.
What begins as a sermon for the plight of the homeless transforms into a
surreal probe into the disintegration of a guilty man's conscience.
Richard Porter (Biff Yeager) us a white screenwriter
whose career, over-indulgent lifestyle, and twisted morals come to a
screeching halt when he encounters an eccentric, African-American
homeless man named Everybum (Sy Richardson). Everybum is leterally
a walking newspaper - his clothes are made of cut-out news clippings,
and his memory is a haphazard collection of the stories on his sleeves.
At first, Everybum appears to be just another
schizophrenic on the streets of downtown L.A. However, Everybum
seems to know the deepest secrets of Porter's failed life and becomes a
catalyst for Porter's breakdown. It is never clear whether
Everybum is a flesh-and-blodd person or a phantasmagoric figment of
Porter's haunting conscience - and that amibuity is what makes the play
so compelling.
>> The Dance
Begins When the Waltz Goes Backwards - 1995/1996
>>
View Photo Gallery of When the Waltz Begins the Dance Goes
Backwards
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