| People Productions
is Utah's only African-American themed theatre. Originally established
in San Jose, California, in 1971 as a means of bringing together
artists and street kids, People Productions later moved to Los
Angeles with Lewis and was resurrected by Lewis and Richard
Scharine in Salt Lake City in 2000. The result of this collaboration
has been performances of James Baldwin's The Amen Corner (2000),
Lonne Elder III's Ceremonies in Dark Old Men (2001), Ntozake
Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when
the rainbow is enuf (2001), Charles Fuller's A Soldier's Play
(2002), Samm-Art Williams' Home (2003), August Wilson's Jitney
(2004), Athol Fugard's Master Harold . . . and the boys (2005),
and Richard Wesley's The Mighty Gents (2006). People Productions
also collaborated with the University of Utah Theatre Department
on Rita Dove's The Darker Face of the Earth in 2002. |
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Pulitzer Prize-Winning Topdog/Underdog Next for People
Productions:
Suzan-Lori Parks' 2002 Play to Receive Inter-Mountain
West Premiere People Productions,
Utah's only African-American themed theatre, will present
the Inter-Mountain West premiere of Suzan-Lori Parks 2002
Pulitzer Prize play, Topdog/ Underdog at the Ladies Literary
Club (850 East South Temple) at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday through
Saturday, April 11-14 and 18-21. Tickets may be purchased
at the door for $12 ($8 for students and seniors), and information
is available by calling 801-485-2497.
Topdog/Underdog is a darkly comic fable of
brotherly love/hate and family destiny. Two brothers, named
Lincoln and Booth by the parents who abandoned them, search
their past for a self-understanding that will give them a
future. Lincoln, a legendary ex-cardsharp, makes his living
being shot as a Lincoln impersonator in an arcade. His younger
brother, Booth, is a master shoplifter who would like to follow
in his brother's footsteps as a three-card monte dealer. The
New York Times called the play "an utterly mesmerizing evening
of theater . . . a vibrant comic drama of shifting identity
and betrayal . . . unlike anything to be heard on Broadway,"
while Backstage concluded that "the issues are gripping, the
characters dynamite . . . a must-see play."
Suzan-Lori Parks-a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant" winner,
novelist (Getting Mother's Body), two time Off-Broadway Award
winner, and screenwriter for Spike Lee and Denzel Washington-borrowed
the character of Lincoln, a black man who plays the role of
"Honest Abe", from her 1994 drama, The America Play. Fascinated
with the idea that African-Americans would be denied center
stage even in the act of their own emancipation, Parks decided
to "follow Lincoln home" to a life shared with a "brother"
who must forever be in his shadow. The result is a tragic-comedy
of Shakespearian stature, a poetic combination of comic rhythm
and street language culminating in an ending as powerful as
it is inevitable: "Amos and Andy introduced by Hamlet to Cain
and Abel."
Topdog/Underdog is under the direction of People
Production founders Edward Lewis and Richard Scharine, and
stars Jonah Taylor as Lincoln and Anthony Lamar Gaskins as
Booth. Linda Moon is the stage manager. People Productions
was named a 2006 "Arty" winner by Salt Lake Weekly.
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See
Utah Academy Paper
See
Deseret News Promo
See
Salt Lake Tribune Writeup
See
Salt Lake Tribune Review
Performance
Information
April 11-14 & 18-21 Ladies Literary Club 7:30 pm
For information, call (801) 485-2497.
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