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Albee's 'Bessie Smith' extended as Interfaith Hospital continues fight to stay open

Posted by:	Official_Press_Release 04:37 pm EST 01/20/14

NEW BROOKLYN THEATER ANNOUNCES THREE-WEEK EXTENSION OF EDWARD ALBEE'S THE DEATH OF BESSIE SMITH Site-specific Production of Rare Albee Play Directed by Jonathan Solari At Interfaith Medical Center, Brooklyn January 9 to 19, 2013 EXTENDED January 26 to February 9, 2013 Following an initial sold-out run, New Brooklyn Theater (Jonathan Solari, Artistic Director) announced a three-week extension for EDWARD ALBEE'S THE DEATH OF BESSIE SMITH. Performances began on January 9, and were originally scheduled to close on Sunday, January 19. The show will now run an additional three weeks to Sunday, February 9. The performance schedule is Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. "We have succeeded in bringing hundreds of people together in a conversation in race, class, and our hospital's pending closure. Our aim is to continue until there is a permanent solution or the state closes Interfaith with us performing inside," says Artistic Director Jonathan Solari. A new block of tickets are free to the public and available by visiting www.newbrooklyntheater.com or https://www.artful.ly/store/events/2261. Set in a 1937 Memphis whites-only hospital and its surrounding area, The Death of Bessie Smith uses the legend surrounding the death of the famous blues singer to mine the circumstances and attitudes that allow injustice to occur. The Death of Bessie Smith was written in 1959 and premiered in West Berlin in 1960. It made its American premiere at the York Playhouse the following year. This is the first New York production of the play in 46 years. Interfaith Medical Center, located in Bed-Stuy, is one of several hospitals throughout Brooklyn in danger of imminent closure. Despite the efforts of the Bed-Stuy community and its allies in labor and government rallying to its defense, Interfaith may have to shut its doors if mediation is unsuccessful. The public is invited to consider whether that is how public health decisions affecting hundreds of thousands should be made. All performances will be followed by discussions with leaders in the arts, government, labor, and health. Previous post-show conversations have included U.S. Representative Hakeem Jeffries, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Assemblymembers Annette Robinson and Walter Mosley; City Councilmembers Robert Cornegy, Laurie Cumbo, and Steve Levin; NYSNA executive director Jill Furillo, activist Sharonnie Perry of the Interfaith Community Advisory Board, Diane Porter of the Interfaith Board of Trustees, and Jonathan Solari, artistic director of New Brooklyn Theater. The cast includes original members Jessica Afton* (Nurse),Brian D. Coats* (Bernie), Jamyl Dobson* (Orderly), Edwin Lee Gibson* (Jack), Keilly McQuail(Second Nurse), James Patrick Nelson* (Intern), and Paul Wilcox(Father). These Actors are appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association. EDWARD ALBEE'S THE DEATH OF BESSIE SMITH is directed byJonathan Solari and features set and costume design by Claire DeLiso, lighting design by Brandon Bagwell, sound design by Laura Cunningham, prop design by Marissa Bergman, and dramaturgy by Samantha Levitt.Clarissa Ligon and Jeannipher Pacheco are the production's stage managers. ***** Edward Albee (playwright) was born on March 12, 1928 and began writing plays 30 years later. His plays includeThe Zoo Story (1958), The American Dream (1960), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1961-62, Tony Award), Tiny Alice (1964), A Delicate Balance(1966, Pulitzer Prize; 1996, Tony Award), All Over (1971), Seascape(1974, Pulitzer Prize), The Lady from Dubuque (1977-78), The Man Who Had Three Arms (1981), Finding the Sun (1982), Marriage Play (1986-87),Three Tall Women (1991, Pulitzer Prize), Fragments (1993), The Play About the Baby (1997), The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? (2000, 2002 Tony Award), Occupant (2001), Peter and Jerry: Act 1, Homelife; Act 2, The Zoo Story (2004), and Me, Myself and I(2007). He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council and President of the Edward F. Albee Foundation. Mr. Albee was awarded the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1980, and in 1996 received the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts. In 2005 he was awarded the special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. Jonathan Solari (director) is the Founding Artistic Director of New Brooklyn Theater. He has directed theatre and opera productions throughout the United States, been assistant director on Broadway, and worked with legendary directors such as Daniel Sullivan, Bartlett Sher, Jo Bonney, and Daniel Kramer. His opera directing includes the world premiere of Green Sneakers by Ricky Ian Gordon (restaged at Lincoln Center in 2013) and operas for Maestro Lorin Maazel's Castelton Festival, Bel Cantanti Opera, and the Five Boroughs Music Festival. Internationally, he has staged works for the Prague Playhouse and Belarus Free Theatre. His most recent original work, The Love Letter You've Been Meaning to Write New York, had a sold-out run in 2011 at 3LD Art & Technology Center. New Brooklyn Theater is a 501c3-pending theatre company founded in 2012 and based in Bed-Stuy. Its mission is to restore theatre to 1215 Fulton Street (also known as the Regent Theater and the Slave Theater) by turning it into a new performing arts center; fill Bed-Stuy's need for performing arts and arts education; and develop New York's next generation of emerging artists. The company's production history began in 2013 with a festival of shows featuring new dramatic works and films by Brooklyn-based artists and a rarely seen play by Bed-Stuy resident Ntozake Shange, author of For Colored Girls…. In 2014 New Brooklyn Theater will launch its education department serving the youth of Bed-Stuy and continue its history of producing new works that speak to our times. Interfaith Medical Center is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing quality healthcare to the residents of Kings County. Annually, Interfaith provides a total of over 200,000 outpatient clinic visits, over 50,000 Emergency Department visits, and over 11,000 discharges. The Community of Central Brooklyn faces serious health care access issues. Interfaith is located in a primary medical care Health Professional Shortage Area as designated by the federal government. The shortage of primary care providers combined with the social problems that plague low-income, high-poverty communities have led to serious health status consequences for its residents. In Central Brooklyn, the death rate per 100,000 residents is higher by 30% for all causes compared to New York City as a whole.

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