Langston Hughes
Performing Arts Center
Press Room
Information: (206) 684-4757
Address: 104 17th Ave. S, 98144 » directions
Bobbie and Jerome
Moscou, Owens Collaborate. Actors Attend "Stonecarving Boot Camp"
for World Premiere Play Bobbie and Jerome
Performances:
October 7-26, 2008
Opening/Press Night:
October 10, 2008 7:30 pm
Live Theatre Week:
Stonecarving Open Studio Tour 10/13 6-8pm
Free Night of Theater 10/16
Free Cousin Night &
Harlem Roots Night:
October 8 & 9 7:30 pm
Seattle WA, -- Much
like stonecarvers themselves, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center
Artistic Director Jacqueline Moscou and local playwright
Daniel W. Owens have been perfecting, sculpting, and
shaping the play Bobbie and Jerome for over
four years. They met in 1992 and planned for years to work together.
In 2004 Owens asked Moscou to set up an early reading and work through
some rewrites. Immediately Moscou said yes, and together they readied
Bobbie and Jerome for the LHPAC stage.
Connecting with the Stonemason's Union and a seasoned stone carving
professional to consult was crucial to the play's development and success.
West Seattle stone carver Sabah Al-Dhaher joined the
creative team and was tasked with leading a special intensive "Stonecarving
Boot Camp" for the playwright, director, and actors. "I will never look
at a rock the same way again! My hands are still recovering," says local
actor G. To'mas Jones. who plays the role of Bobbie.
Bobbie and Jerome is the captivating story
of two cousins fighting their addictions, their joined past, and each
other. The complex art of stone carving is at the play's core and an
authentic depiction of the craft is crucial to the play's success.
Errol is the "Stone Yard's" master mason who admires both Bobbie and
Jerome for their talent as stone carvers, but also fears for their futures.
Set in the stone yard of a gothic Harlem cathedral in 1998, this world
premiere drama opens a lens into the lives of two men struggling to
save the Stone Yard and settle a past score.
"Bobbie and Jerome embodies everything LHPAC is about. We create a
home for African American arts and its artists, and are dedicated to
the development of new works," says Jacque Moscou. Throughout Bobbie
and Jerome's development process LHPAC has pooled creative
resources and connected with many different corners of the artistic
community. Moscou continues, "Art transforms people's lives. This play
drives that message home. Personally, connecting with art through stonecarving
has been a blast!"
On October 13 the general public is invited to get
a taste of "Stonecarving Boot Camp" and chat with the
actors, director, playwright, and local stone carver Sabah Al-dhaher
at his open studio tour. This free event will be held from 6-8
pm at 3838 Delridge Way SW and is part of Theatre Puget Sound's
Live Theatre Week.
LHPAC always encourages new audiences to experience the thrill of Live
Theatre. October 7 is a "Pay-What-You-Can-Preview" performance
and LHPAC will participate in Live Theatre Week's FREE Night of theatre
on October 16th. In addition, on October 8 & 9, LHPAC will celebrate
the spirit of Bobbie and Jerome's tight relationship as cousins and
their beloved Harlem home with Free Cousin Night (Buy one ticket and
your cousin can come for free!) and Harlem Roots Night (Buy one ticket
and your friend or family member from Harlem can come for free!). The
online password for this Brownpapertickets offer is "HARLEM." No proof
of family kinship OR Harlem residency is required!
Bobbie and Jerome, written by Daniel
W. Owens and directed by Jacqueline Moscou,
will have its world premiere at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts
Center October 7-26, 2008. Marcel Davis plays Jerome
and G. To'mas Jones plays his cousin Bobbie. Ron
Davids plays the master mason Errol. The Set Designer who brings
a stone yard indoors is Tommer Peterson. Sound
Designer Herbert Thompson will add jazz elements to
the production. Doris Black will design the costumes
and Stephen Deibert is the lighting designer.
Bobbie and Jerome is recommended for ages
12 and older. Performances will be held at Langston Hughes Performing
Arts Center at 17th & Yesler in Seattle. Previews are Oct.7-9
at 7:30 pm. Opening Night is October 10 at 7:30 with a special
"Taste of Harlem" reception afterwards. Shows run Thursdays - Sundays
at 7:30 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinees on Saturdays and Sundays (no 2 p.m.
matinee on Oct 26).
Advance ticket prices are $20 for adults; $15 for youth and seniors;
and $24 day of show at the door. A special discount is offered to groups
of 10 or more. Ticket Line: 206-386-1177. Tickets are available
at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center and through Brown Paper
Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com
or 1-800-838-3006.
Dan Owens' play Mutambi and Lindstrom was
read in 2006 at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, New Jersey. Stage/screen
and television actor John Amos read the role of Mutambi. Owens' The
Measuring Stick [aka The Chisler] was staged in 2003 as
part of the 2nd Annual Seattle FringeACT Festival of New Original Works.
He wrote the book for the musical Little Ham which received
"rave" reviews in the New York Times and The New Yorker in December
2001. Little Ham was also produced Off-Broadway in the Fall
of 2002. He also wrote the book for The More You Get - The More
You Want, which was produced Off-Broadway by the FDCAC. In 2002
his play Forever My Darlin' had an extended run at Chicago's
ETA Theater. And in the summer of 1999 Mutambi and Lindstrom
was produced at the 15th Annual National Black Theater Festival in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina.
In 1997, Owens was commissioned by Seattle's ACT Theatre, as part of
their "FirstACT" play development project, to write Aunt Lou and
Miss Sara. His 1992 play, The Gang on the Roof was one
of six grant recipients from the Fund for new American Plays - Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts. That play was successfully produced
by the Capital Theater Company in Albany, New York. While living in
New York City Mr. Owens had his work produced by: The New Federal Theater,
The Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center (FDCAC), The Negro Ensemble,
The George Street Playhouse (New Brunswick, New Jersey), and The Westport
Summer Playhouse (Westport, Conn.). He was twice a participant in the
Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference (Waterford, Conn.) and
was the recipient of a Rockefeller Grant for Playwriting. Mr. Owens
graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Boston with a B.A.
in English, attended Yale School of Drama, and received his M.Ed. from
the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is a native of Malden,
Massachusetts and currently lives in Seattle with his daughter Gabriela.
Sabah Al-Dhaher was born in Nasriyah, Iraq. At the
age of fifteen he was accepted to the Institute of Fine Arts in Basra,
Iraq, where he lived and received his training in classical art, graduating
first in his class in 1989. Al-Dhaher fled Iraq in 1991 due to his involvement
in a failed uprising against the regime of Saddam Hussein at the end
of the first Gulf war. After spending 2 ? years in a refugee camp in
the desert of Saudi Arabia, he came to the U.S. as a political refugee
in 1993. Al-Dhaher currently teaches stone carving at the Pratt
Fine Arts Center in Seattle. Visit www.aldhaher.net
for more information.
Interviews and photos are available upon request through Jennifer
Rice 206-285-5175 or rice1234@yahoo.com.
The Langston Hughes season of performing arts programs is made possible
through the generous support of Seattle Parks and Recreation, Seattle
Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, ArtsFund, The Boeing Company,
National Endowment for the Arts, Washington State Arts Commission, 4
Culture, The Seattle Foundation, Safeco Insurance, and individual contributions.
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Updated
September 30, 2008
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