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Ethel Waters
was commissioned by the AMAS REPERTORY in 1982. One
of America's great song stylists, actresses and dancers, Miss Waters
rose to fame at the height of the Harlem Renaissance. Born in 1896,
in Chester, PA, she toured the South in her teens, billed as "Sweet
Mama Stringbean," with carnivals, tent and vaudeville shows. She
became well known on the "Chitlin Circuit" and then Broadway,
Hollywood and television. After costarring with Julie Harris in "Member
of the Wedding" on Broadway (1950), she toured with the Billy Graham
Cavalcade from 1957 until she died in 1977.
"In Laurence Holder's meticulously researched
and dramatic narrative, he explores exactly what it was like to be a
black female Diva in the 1920's, 1930's and 1940's." - Woody King,
Jr., Amherst College and Producing Director, New Federal Theater, NYC
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Hot Snow
is a musical portrayal of the life and times of the
famous trumpet player, bandleader, dancer, singer Valaida Snow, who
comes to fame in Europe at the height of the Harlem Renaissance. When
Hitler starts his holocaust, she is arrested and spends 18 months in
a Nazi concentration camp. She is repatriated back to the United States
whereupon she spends the next 12 years fighting to get back to the big
time, Broadway, and she does.
"Hot... a fresh angle... riveting... haunts...
plenty to like... high energy, electrifying... powerful and spirited"
- The New Center News, Metro Times,
and Entertainment Monday "Toot Sweet... triumphant... poignant"
- The
Detroit News and The Monitor
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They Were All Gardenias
is a musical, a mythological recording session set in
1948 during the height of the recording ban featuring Billie Holiday
as Gardenia, Reed Hawkins, a composite Charlie Parker, Lester Young,
Coleman Hawkins character, and Bud Powell as Fingers, the piano player
madly in love with the singer.
"A gem... euphoric climate... realistically dramatized...
a tough play... important" - From Jazz Spotlite News. "Highly
stylized musical drama" - Show Business.
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Zora Neale Hurston
is the award winning dramatic biography of the leading
woman of the Harlem Renaissance. ZORA NEALE HURSTON is the story of
the famed novelist, anthropologist, and folklorist who comes to fame
at the height of the Harlem Renaissance. The play reveals the humble
beginnings and culture of her native Florida and traces her rise in
the 1920s and tragic fall in the 1950s. It renders her story, her times,
her triumphs.
"A crowd pleaser" - The Amsterdam News.
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M: The Mandela Saga
is the award winning dramatic rendering of the life
and times of Nelson and Winifred ("Winnie") Mandela. Winnie
Mandela is the voice and face of the anti-apartheid movement in South
Africa. This play deals with the 27 years she faced the world alone
fighting for peace and equality in her country. It reveals the pathos
and hope, the frustrations and dreams, the strategies employed to bring
freedom home.
The original production featured Marjorie Johnson as
Winnie, Robert Turner as Kaiser, and Todd Davis as Nelson, directed
by the wonderful Randy Frazier.
"Highlight of the Africa 2000 conference"
- Hofstra University "A powerful portrait... fresh and controversial...
superb language" - The Amsterdam News.
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When The Chickens Came Home
To Roost
is the dramatic rendering of the dissolution of the
relationship between father/teacher and son/mentor: Elijah Muhammad
and Malcolm X. The original production starred Denzel Washington as
Malcolm X and Kirk Kirksey as Elijah Muhammad. It was directed by Allie
Woods
"Utterly convincing life... fascinating tug of
war... humor..." - Frank Rich, The New York Times "Dramatic
excellence" - Owen Dodson, author
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Red Channels
is the story of the Red Scare's impact on the lives and
fortunes of Paul Robeson, W.E.B. DuBois, Richard Nixon, Joseph McCarthy
and Hal Porter.
"Compelling recreation of McCarthy era... twists...
uncommon territory for live theatre... political theatre..."
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BUSSA
was a proud African man who became the symbol of freedom
from slavery in the British Barbados. Resold to Thomas Jefferson, he
discovers that by fighting for the British he could be freed. He escapes
from the colonies and sets sail on a ship bound for London. On the ship
he is recognized by the Captain and sold back to Britishers in Barbados,
where he leads an insurrection that sets in motion an end to slavery
in the British Empire. This play features another important figure in
British history, the abolitionist William Wilberforce.
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MONK
is a one character tour de force about the enigmatic
genius jazz pianist, Thelonious Monk, who has brought joy and understanding
to people all over the world. It is the powerful story of a musical
life force.
The award-winning production featuring Rome Neal, Artistic
Director of the Nuyorican Poets' Theatre Cafe, is also available on
video tape, VHS format.
"Brilliantly written...Extraordinary...Phenomenal"
- Amsterdam News
"Intense sense of drama...Hypnotic mood..."
- Village Voice
"Brilliant... Exquisite..." - NY Times "Witty,
soulful and terse...A tender tribute to a legend."-Newsday
"...with its strong, accomplished writing...captures
the rhythm and feel of the 1940s and '50s jazz scene...it ranks up there
with the best, because it is passionate, powerful and real." -
Shout
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MAN
is a one-character, one-act dramatic rendering of a man
who was born in prison and raised in penal institutions until 21 when
he is released onto society.
Originally portrayed by Kirk Kirksey and directed by
Dick Gaffield of American Folk Theater on Theatre Row, Judith Anderson
Theatre, it was directed by Yvonne Southerland in a subsequent production.
"A song so well constructed that even Muzak can't
stop the logic and the power of the notes...remarkable writing"
- The Village Voice.
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WOMAN
Another one-character one-act, this is the dramatic telling
of a migrant woman betrayed by her family, her culture and her country.
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Other
One-charactor Plays
BIRD (Charlie Parker);
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MAX ROACH (Max
Roach); SUGAR RAY (Sugar
Ray Robinson); LANGSTON (Langston
Hughes); HOT FINGERS (Jelly
Roll Morton); HOT LIPS (Valaida
Snow); ZORA, THE LAST DUST TRACK
(Zora Neale Hurston); THE FIGHTER (Contemporary
woman)
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JUBA
is a song and dance musical rendering of the life and
times of William Henry Lane, AKA JUBA, the legendary Negro dancer of
the 1840s who came to fame in the Five Points area created by the intersection
of Park, Worth, and Baxter streets in lower Manhattan. The first "tenderloin
district" was also known as a center of vice and debauchery throughout
the nineteenth century. Juba became the King of all dancers by challenging
the previous King of all dancers, Jack Diamond, a Caucasian.
"Brilliant...A dream palace... dazzling dancing...
a little miracle... enchanting show-biz..." SoHo Weekly News
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MonknBud
is the story of the tempestuous relationship between
2 of America's great jazz pianists: Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell.
MonknBud, featuring Alvin Alexis as Monk, Tony Jackson as Bud, and Marmara
McKinney as Nellie Monk, was directed by the wonderful Jasper McGruder.
"A theme and then a counter theme, an improvisation...
it ís jazz, subversive mad jazz" - The Amsterdam News "Impressionistic...
imaginative" - WBGO
"Fascinating..." - The Independent Weekend, Edinburgh Festival
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SCOTT JOPLIN
Scott Joplin written and directed by Laurence Holder
is a dance musical retelling the life and times of America's premier
Ragtime composer.
"Educational, entertainment... potent..."
- The Arizona Informant.
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HOT
FINGERS
is the musical retelling of the life and times of Jelly
Roll Morton, the originator of Jazz.
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SWEE'PEA AND THE
DUKE
a story of the deep friendships, the loves, the pains
and joys of musical creation shared by Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn
and Lena Horne, three of the world's great musical luminaries. |
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Ruby
and Pearl: A Class Act
is the tale of 2 aging burlesque dancers who refuse
to take it all off.
"Gritty, realistic repartee... armpit realism"
- The Village Voice.
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Nelson 'n' Simone:
Out of the Senses
with Kathryn Chilson as Simone deBeauvoir and Theo Pilites
as Nelson Algren. Original music by Ken Lauber, directed by Murray Changar.
What happens when an enraged deBeauvoir flees France
and her lover Jean Paul Sartre, comes to America and meets ultra cool
Nelson Algren? What happens when existentialism meets pragmatism, when
The 2nd Sex meets The Man With The Golden Arm, when excatholic
girl meets slick midwestern ex-jew?
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FAGEN
is about a buffalo soldier turned traitor who leads the
Philippine insurrection against the USA at the turn of the 20th century.
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F: The Fringe Candidate
about Lenora Fulani who ran for President amid chaos,
the play reveals and illuminates a creative dynamo and what is needed
for political change.
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ZORA and LANGSTON
deals solely and directly with her relationship with
Harlem's Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, as they collaborate creatively,
on MULE BONE. a comedy of Negro life in 3 acts based on her collection
of black American folklore, Mules and Men.
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ZORA:WHU
a 2 character play, and the first incarnation of the
Zora Neale Hurston legend by Holder, dramatizes her last attempt to
remain in New York and fight the hypocrisy which has beheaded her career.
She is aided in this attempt by a black Japanese man named Fred Whu.
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Dream Rooms
a study of contemporary morals in middle class America
is currently available for it’s world premiere production. A complete
MS is available in Volume 5, Renaissance Collection.
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The Crooner
A fictional story of the loves and rise to fame of a
"great" jazz singer and his ladies. A complete MS is available
from the Author.
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Dr. May Edward Chin
Dr. May Edward Chin was the first African-American woman to graduate from Bellevue Hospital Medical School (1926), the first Black female intern at Harlem Hospital, and for many years the only Black female physician in Harlem. Her father had been a slave who escaped from the Chinn plantation in Virginia in 1864, and her mother was born on a Chickahominy Indian reservation near Norfolk, VA. A complete MS is available from the Author.
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© 1999, 2001 Laurence
Holder |
