New York Stage and Film (NYSAF), which has operated as a vital incubator for artists and their work for the past 37 years, continues its 2021 summer programming, running through August 2, with presentations of the latest musicals by award-winning artists Michael R. Jackson (A Strange Loop) and Billy Porter (Kinky Boots; Pose).
White Girl in Danger, with book, music, and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize winner Michael R. Jackson, is a “dark and wildly funny” musical satire weaving the tale of a young woman named Keesha Gibbs, who lives in the “Blackground” of the melodramatic soap-opera town of Allwhite. When, tired of the usual Blackground stories of enslavement and police violence, she appropriates the lead heroine storylines of her rivals Meagan, Maegan, and Megan, she not only gains power, but also puts her story and her life in more danger than ever before by attracting the attention of the Allwhite Killer.
The new work will be presented live and in-person on Saturday, July 31, at 7 pm, and Sunday, August 1, at 3 pm, at the Marist College Cornell Boathouse Outdoor Tent in Poughkeepsie. Directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz (Marys Seacole), the cast will feature Liz Lark Brown, Latoya Edwards, Jennifer Fouché, Morgan Siobhan Green, James Jackson, Jr., Farah Lopez, Alyse Alan Louis, Lauren Marcus, Eric William Morris, Ronald Peet, Natalie Walker, and NaTasha Yvette Williams.
If you can’t make it to the Hudson Valley (or even if you can!), you can enjoy a special presentation of Billy Porter’s new Gospel musical Sanctuary at home, as part NYSAF’s Always On virtual programming, streaming Thursday, July 29-Monday, August 2. With a book by Porter, and music and lyrics by composer and performer Kurt Carr, the show invites audiences to learn how to spread love and fellowship through the power of gospel music, in the “plain and simple” belief that God is love and love is God.
The uplifting online presentation includes performances by Deborah Cox, Bryan Terrell Clark, Ledisi, and Virginia Woodruff with Broadway Inspirational Voices, led by Allen René Louis – incoming Artistic Director of the professional choir of Broadway artists, united to change lives through the power of music and service.
To celebrate the reopening of NYSAF’s Summer Season and to make the work available to all, tickets for both presentations are Pay-What-You-Can. White Girl in Danger is currently sold out, but more tickets may be released, so be sure to check the website. For tickets to Sanctuary, go online.
