| Prospect Theater Company announces premiere for MAKING MICHEAUX, a VISION Series short film | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 01:32 pm EST 03/12/21 | |
|
|
|
| March 18 @ 7pm: Premiere Date set for MAKING MICHEAUX An Original Short Jazz Musical on Film, part of Prospect Theater Company's VISION Series (New York, NY) – Prospect Theater Company (Cara Reichel, Producing Artistic Director; Melissa Huber, Managing Director) is pleased to announce the premiere date for the next offering in the company’s VISION Series of original music-theater on film. Making Micheaux, with book and lyrics by Jesse L. Kearney, Jr. and music by jazz artist Alphonso Horne, is directed by Jeffrey L. Page and stars Aaron Marcellus. (Artist bios included below.) This 15-minute jazz musical on film is inspired by the life of America's first major Black filmmaker, Oscar Micheaux. In 1918 Chicago, Micheaux stands at a turning point in his life: Facing down a world which denies him a place in the narrative, what path will he take? Making Micheaux will debut on Thursday, March 18th at 7pm. The free premiere event includes a post-screening artist Q&A hosted by musical writer Kirsten Childs (Bella: An American Tall Tale, The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin). To attend the free premiere event, audiences should visit www.ProspectTheater.org/making-micheaux to register. The film features jazz musicians Endea Owens, Mathis Picard, and TJ Reddick with Alphonso Horne. Director of Photography is Brian Bon; editing by Milton Guanga. The production team includes lighting designer Victoria Davidjohn, sound designer Kevin Heard, project and production manager Josh Cape, production manager Pope Jackson, and Health & Safety Supervisor Zoe Grabinski, M.D. Following the premiere, Making Micheaux will join a line-up of previous VISION Series films which are available for free viewing on Prospect's website and YouTube Channel. For information on previous VISION Series projects, and more information on Prospect Theater Company, visit ProspectTheater.org. # # # # # ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES Alphonso Horne is a two-time Grammy nominated trumpeter, named by Wynton Marsalis as one of the rising stars of the next generation. Horne has performed with many renowned jazz artists including Marcus Roberts, Michael Feinstein, Rhiannon Giddens, Marilyn Maye and Rihanna. On Broadway, he has performed in the orchestras for the Tony Award winning After Midnight and the Tony nominated Shuffle Along, and he was the Music Director for Ziegfeld’s Midnight Frolic. Horne leads an active career as a sideman, performing at world-class venues and jazz festivals including Madison Square Garden (VMA Awards 2017), Umbria, Monterey, Newport, Montreal, Vancouver, London, and more. Horne is involved with many projects, including playing with Sammy Miller and the Congregation (2017 Ars Nova residency) and the annual Savannah Swing Central & Music Festival. He is the bandleader of an early jazz band, Gotham Kings, which performs regularly at Jazz at Lincoln Center and Ginny’s Supper Club in Harlem. He is producing his original show Mother Kofi: The Tale of an African Princess inspired by his family history. Horne was recently seen on Saturday Night Live and can be seen on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and in the feature film, Bolden. Education: Florida State University (BM), The Juilliard School (MM). Jesse L. Kearney, Jr. is an award-winning playwright whose honors include the ASCAP Musical Theater Workshop and the Jonathan Larson Musical Theater Fellowship from the Dramatist Guild. He received commissions from City Lights Youth Theater to write the librettos for Take Two: Hollywood Revue and Lights on Broadway, and has authored three one-act plays, Dinner For Two, O, Ye Of Little Faith, and Phantasmagoria – collectively called The Dark Night Plays (Nightmares and Fantasies) – which were presented in Prospect Theater Company's Dark Nights Series. His musical, The Little Playhouse, received a workshop production in the Lincoln Center Theater Director’s Lab / American Living Room Series. He provided book and lyrics for the short musical The Lion In Love (music by Brian Feinstein), and the libretto for The Blind Man (music by Deborah Abramson, lyrics by Peter Mills) based on a story by D.H. Lawrence. His songs have been featured by cabaret artists and in musical revues throughout NYC, including Joe’s Pub. Mr. Kearney is a co-founder and General Counsel of The STAGE Network, a streaming media platform devoted to the performing arts. Education: J.D. from New York Law School, MFA from NYU’s Musical Theater Writing Program, BA from Dartmouth College. Proud member of the Dramatist Guild. Aaron Marcellus was born and bred in Atlanta, GA and has been entertaining crowds across the world for 16 plus years. A singer, writer, musician, tap dancer, and an actor, Marcellus is a consummate entertainer with a signature sound. He’s shared the stage with Gospel and CCM greats like: Israel Haughton, Salvador, Mary Mary, Donnie McClurkin, Kim Burrell, TobyMac, Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, Anointed, Ted & Sheri, Rachel Lampa, and Karen Clark-Sheard. In 2004 Marcellus ventured into Pop/Soul, taking a bold step to break into this new genre by auditioning for the world-renowned talent competition, American Idol. During Season 11 he rose to semi-finalist status (top 24) on American Idol, garnering a standing ovation during his televised performance in Hollywood. In the summer of 2012 Marcellus was a featured artist on the “Idols World Tour” sponsored by the US Armed Forces for American troops and was also one of the select Idol contestants featured on a tour through England, Italy, Holland, Germany, France, Korea, and Japan. Marcellus has been featured in a new pilot show for NBC, in a Chapstick commercial and at a tribute performance for R&B recording artist, Chrisette Michele. Marcellus can be found hosting a weekly musical act at NYC’s Duane Park and singing all over New York City– directing showcases, tap dancing, acting, serving as a vocal coach and directing The Marcellus Music Ensemble, a new and powerful collection of voices that help to comprise the Marcellus Orchestra. Jeffrey Page is an Emmy Award-nominated director and choreographer. He spearheaded the 2015 and 2018 Tokyo productions of the musical Memphis, which received four Yomiuri Award nominations, including Best Musical. He is the first African American to be named the Marcus Institute Fellow for Opera Directing at The Juilliard School. Mr. Page won an MTV Video Music Award for his work with Beyoncé, whose creative team have included him for more than 12 years. His work was featured on Beyoncé’s “The Formation World Tour,” in her historic Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival performance, and in two of her HBO specials. Mr. Page was the associate creative director for Mariah Carey’s “Sweet, Sweet Fantasy European Tour,” and has been a featured choreographer on Fox Television’s “So You Think You Can Dance”. He currently is the creative director for singer-songwriter Jazmine Sullivan, most recently working with her on the 2020 BET Soul Train Music Awards. Mr. Page was in the original, award-winning Broadway cast of Fela!. He choreographed the Broadway musical Violet, starring Sutton Foster (Roundabout). Page was acknowledged by the Berkshire Theatre Awards for his work on Barrington Stage Company’s Company and Broadway Bounty Hunter. In 2016, he established Movin’ Legacy as an Indianapolis-based nonprofit organization dedicated to the ethnology and documentation of contemporary and traditional dance from Africa and the African diaspora. Jeffrey received an MFA degree in Dramatic Direction Columbia University in NYC, and serves as a lecturer at Harvard University and guest faculty in the Opera Department at The Juilliard School. In 2019 he was awarded the Chuck Davis Emerging Choreographer Fellowship from the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Currently, as co-director and choreographer, he is working with Diane Paulus and the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard to mount the Broadway revival of 1776. ABOUT THE VISION SERIES Launched in August 2020, the VISION Series is an initiative continuing Prospect ’s mission of creating and presenting original musical theater works by emerging artists while public gatherings are on pause. The series features original short musical films created by a variety of artists. Recipients of VISION Series writing commissions include Bandits on the Run , a Brooklyn musical trio; Britt Bonney; Naveen Bahar Choudhury and Kamala Sankaram; Cheryl L. Davis and Douglas J. Cohen; Jesse L. Kearney, Jr. and Alphonso Horne; and Jay Alan Zimmerman. Additionally, one commission was a movement narrative created in partnership with Thistle Dance, Inc. / Kristen Brooks Sandler, with score by Or Matias. Previous design team members have included Production and Projection Designer Lianne Arnold, Lighting Designer Adam Honoré, Sound Designer and Audio Engineer Marián Gómez Villota, and Sound Designer and Audio Engineer Kevin Heard. Project Manager for the series was Josh Cape. Stage Directors participating in the VISION Series commissions included Zi Alikhan, Christina Franklin, Darren Lee, Jeffrey L. Page, Cara Reichel, Kristen Brooks Sandler, and SRÐA. Filmmakers included Brian Bon, Bart Cortright, Sean Dolan, Gabrielle Mariella, Sean MacLaughlin, Lesley Steele, and Jaime Vallés. The first four projects were filmed during Prospect’s September 2020 residency at the Goodwill Theatre (Chief Executive Officer: Naima Kradjian) located outside of Binghamton, NY. Health and safety needs at the Goodwill were generously sponsored by United Health Services, under the guidance of Health Safety Supervisor, RN Megan Farmer. NYC Health Safety Supervisor was Zoe Grabinski, M.D. Leadership project sponsors of the Fall 2020 Vision Series include Leonard Majzlin, and Somerled Arts. ABOUT PROSPECT THEATER COMPANY Prospect Theater Company is dedicated to fostering and showcasing today's new voices shaping tomorrow's musicals. Over two decades, the company has premiered more than 35 musicals in New York City, in addition to new plays and numerous re-inventions of classic works. Reflecting its investment in the future of the field, Prospect leads a variety of developmental initiatives: including an annual Musical Theater Lab for emerging writers, and the IGNITE Series of new musical theater in concert. In 2020, Prospect launched the VISION Series of original music-theater works captured on film, created for online streaming. In recognition of its enterprising and risk-taking new musical theater, the company has received an OBIE Award grant, and its role as a community anchor for emerging artists that strengthens the quality, diversity, and dynamism of American theater was honored by the American Theatre Wing. www.ProspectTheater.org Recently, Prospect produced the Drama Desk Award-nominated Einstein’s Dreams (2019) by Joanne Sydney Lessner & Joshua Rosenblum, adapted from the novel by Alan Lightman, and The Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award-nominated The Hello Girls (2018), by company founding artists Peter Mills & Cara Reichel. Both shows ran Off-Broadway at 59E59 Theaters, and have original cast albums available from Broadway Records. Other notable productions include: Kerrigan & Lowdermilk's The Mad Ones (2017); Milburn & Vigoda's Long Story Short (2015); Ryan Scott Oliver and Hunter Foster's Jasper in Deadland (2014); the Drama Desk nominated Tamar of the River (2013) by Joshua H. Cohen and Marisa Michelson; Carner & Gregor's Unlock'd (2013); Gordon Greenberg's revisal of Working (Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Ensemble, 2012) including new songs by Lin Manuel Miranda; Elizabeth Lucas' re-imagining of Guettel's Myths and Hymns (2012); and John Gregor's With Glee (2010). |
|
| Link | http://www.ProspectTheater.org/making-micheaux |
| reply | |
|
|
|
| Previous: | TRU announces March Panel via Zoom: Rethinking Marketing Strategies to Reach the Wider Virtual Audience - 3/25 - Official_Press_Release 01:34 pm EST 03/12/21 |
| Next: | This Week on EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN: Hmmm? - Official_Press_Release 01:28 pm EST 03/12/21 |
| Thread: | |
Time to render: 0.007757 seconds.