THEATRE + COMEDY

The Ensemble Theatre is one of seventeen African American theatres to participate in a national benefit staged play reading of Alice Childress' Trouble in Mind, Monday, June 20, at  5:30PM, in The Ensemble Performance Centre – Fannin and Berry St. Entrance
3535 Main St.  Actor/ Director Wayne DeHart will direct The Ensemble Theatre's presentation of the play. Featured cast members include: Julie Boneau, Cynthia Brown, Kendrick Brown, Paul Drake, Wayne DeHart, Kit Fordyce, Ron Jones, Bob Morgan, and Bebe Wilson.

Trouble in Mind is a powerfully incendiary and satiric drama based on the conflict of not compromising one's artistic integrity. This play within a play follows the journey of a mixed-raced cast in 1957 as they embark upon rehearsals for a racially-charged play. Childress shows the actors' complaints, directors' frustration and the well-meaning efforts of theater professionals to overcome their racial feelings. As the play unfolds each character is revealed, along with their cavalier approach to the scripts they hold. There is so much humor that the playwright's theme within the theme will leave today's modern audience marveling at how insightful and fresh the play feels today.

PROJECT1VOICE, a newly established organization founded by New York-based actor/producer Erich McMillan-McCall (Chicago, The Who's Tommy) to preserve the legacy of African American theatre and playwrights, announced its inaugural event: 1VOICE, 1 PLAY, 1 DAY. African American theatres across the country have been invited to participate in this one day event that serves as both an awareness campaign and fundraising endeavor.

"This national day of celebration not only honors the late Alice Childress' seminal work, but it seeks to highlight the African-American theatre companies who are struggling for their very existence," PROJECT1VOICE Founder Erich McMillan-McCall said. "It is imperative that our community spark renewed interest in the art, the artists and the organizations which nurture them. PROJECT1VOICE is proud to take on the challenge of trumpeting our artistic resources so that they can sustain themselves now and into the future."

For more information about PROJECT1VOICE, and to see interviews with theater luminaries such as prolific producer Woodie King, Jr., Tony-Award winner Adriane Lenox, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage, visit: www.project1voice.org.

Alice Childress (pictured above, playwright) has been described as a distinguished woman of her time, a literary genius, a great collaborator and an inspiration for African American women in drama. For all of her accomplishments as a black woman, her efforts went largely unnoticed. Alice Childress died of cancer in 1994.