March 23, 2009
New Directional Players to present spring performance
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The play "Levee James," written by award-winning playwright S.M. Shephard-Massat, will be performed by the Black Cultural Center's New Directional Players on Friday (March 27) as part of the center's performing arts ensemble spring performances.The production will be at 7 p.m. in the Black Cultural Center's Multipurpose Room 1. It will be directed by Artisia V. Green, artist in residence for the New Directional Players. Kecha Nickson-Kambe is serving as assistant director.
The play, which will be presented as a "readers theater" production, is set in the 1920s and presents Shephard-Massat's interpretation of the oppressive social forces in the South that contributed to the Great Migration and the inspiration of the Civil Rights Movement. Readers theater is a production that uses little to no props, costumes, sets or memorization of lines to give actors increased artistic freedom.
Shephard-Massat, a graduate of the New York University's Tisch School for the Arts, has won the Adrienne Kennedy Award and the Roger L. Stevens Awards from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Established at Purdue in 1969, the Black Cultural Center is nationally recognized and acknowledged by the Association of Black Cultural Centers as one of the best centers of its kind. The center helps the community gain a greater understanding of African-American heritage and supports and enhances cultural diversity on campus and in the community.
Writer: Clyde Hughes, 765-494-2073, jchughes@purdue.edu
Source: Renee A. Thomas, 765-494-3091, rathomas@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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