The Essential Theatre will begin its 35th anniversary year programming with its Women’s Works Program production of Zora by Laurence Holder, to celebrate the acclaimed Harlem Renaissance writer and anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston. Zora will run September 18 – October 6 at the Anacostia Arts Center. Cash only pay-what-you-can (PWYC) previews will run September 18-21. PWYC sales are at the door only. Patrons may guarantee seating by purchasing online advance tickets at the discounted rate of $35 in celebration of the company’s 35th year anniversary until September 21.
Funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the performance officially opens September 22 and will run until October 6 with performances on Thursdays at 12 noon, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 3 pm.
The preview performance on Wednesday, September 18 will begin at 7 pm. All performances will be held at the Anacostia Arts Center at 1231 Marion Barry Avenue SE, Washington, DC.
“Among the reasons we decided to open the season with the piece about Zora Neale Hurston is that I encountered so many recent college graduates who did not know who she was. That inspired the thought, what must they be teaching at the university level about the Harlem Renaissance, or is it being taught at all because you can’t talk about the period without talking about Zora Neale Hurston,” explained Founder and Artistic Director, S. Robert Morgan. For tickets and more info visit www.theessentialtheatre.org or call (202) 967-6178.
About the Play
Through the magic of theater, Laurence Holder’s Zora allows us to celebrate and explore the prolific life of renowned Harlem Renaissance writer, Zora Neale Hurston, by giving light to her glorious literary journey and its contributions to America’s most treasured literary
canon. Sometimes called the “Queen of the Harlem Renaissance,” Hurston’s most well-known work is her novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” written in 1937. Previous productions of Zora have included actors Elizabeth Van Dyke and Tim Johnson and direction by Wynn Handman, and were recognized by Audelco Awards for Excellence in Black Theatre.
About the Playwright
Laurence Holder is renowned as a playwright of historical and biographical plays. In 1978 Juba* was directed by the legendary John Vaccaro; in 1979 They Were All Gardenias featured Carmen Lundy and Walter Bishop, Jr, directed by Regge Life; in 1981, ZORA featured Phylicia Rashad, directed by Elizabeth Van Dyke, and When The Chickens
Came Home To Roost featured Kirk Kirksey and Denzel Washington, directed by Allie Woods; in 1991 Zora Neale Hurston with Elizabeth Van Dyke, directed by Wynn Handman; in 1992 MonknBud featuring Alvin Alexis and Marie McKinney in NY and Edinburgh, UK; in 1993 Ruby and Pearl, directed by Rome Neal; in 1995 M: The Mandela Saga featured Marjorie Johnson and Todd Davis, directed by Randy Frazier; in 2000 Monk featured Rome Neal, co directed by Neal and Laurence Holder; awarded multiple AUDELCO Awards for excellence in theater. Holder has many plays nominated for AUDELCOs such as Man with Kirk Kirksey, Hot Fingers (Jelly Roll Morton) featuring Bruce Strickland and directed by Glenn Weiss, Red Channels, directed by Rome Neal. He is also the author of five published volumes of plays: Renaissance Men I, Renaissance Men II; Renaissance Women; Renaissance Collection; and Renaissance Solos. In addition, Holder has produced and directed drama since 1974 when he produced Bird of Paradise which featured the direction of Ornette Coleman; in 1984 Hot Fingers featured Bruce Strickland, Man featured Kirk Kirksey, Woman featured Judith Thames. In 1998 Zora and Langston featuring Gerard Catus and Andrea Holder and Fagen featuring Tony Jackson and Andrea Holder. Holder was co-founder and co-producer of the reading series Red Harlem Readers, which presents plays, essays, and poetry every Sunday afternoon at Indian Café on Broadway in New York.
About the Director
S. Robert Morgan is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Essential Theatre, and director of Zora. A native of Washington, DC, he possesses over thirty-five years of experience in professional theater in a combination of administration and performance work, and as an educator. He most recently completed filming the pilot presentation of a new television series, Don’t Look Now. Among his many other television and film credits are Marvel TV’s popular comic series Luke Cage, the role of Butchie for four of five seasons on the critically acclaimed, award-winning, HBO hit series, The Wire. He also appeared in the HBO teen film, Rocket Science, and Aspire Network’s feature, Blind Date. A theater graduate of Florida A&M and Florida State University, he was an original company member of Kaiser Permanente’s educational children’s theater tour of Professor Body Wise’s Traveling Menagerie. As a theater educator, he has worked in the area of Psycho Drama with mentally challenged populations and has had the pleasure of working in educational theater with students ranging from pre-kindergarten to graduate levels at colleges and universities. He was Acting Department Chairman for the pilot program of the Takoma School Visual and Performing Arts Program in DC Public Schools. He has guest lectured at Florida A&M, Howard, and American Universities. He has directed programs in theater for Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation, Maryland National Capitol Parks and Planning Commission, Upward Bound, Associates for Renewal in Education, and DC Summer Youth Works. He has worked at the Studio Theatre, studied as a work-study student at Dance Place and Shakespeare Theatre Company’s academy of classical acting.
Most recently an alumnus of the Commercial Theatre Institute in New York, NY, he is a nationally active member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He has been seen on stage at Arena Stage, The Kennedy Center, Warner Theatre, Source Theatre Company, Washington Shakespeare Company, The Theatre Alliance, Baltimore’s revered Everyman Theatre, Back Alley Theatre, Harlequin and West End Dinner Theatres among others. He has also toured with, Bubbling Brown Sugar, and One Thousand One Black Inventions. Other television and film credits include A Man Called Hawk, Homicide, Unsolved Mysteries, America’s Most Wanted, Separate But Equal, Iron Clad, Hamlet, He Said, She Said, Uptown Angel, Dinosaurs, A Few Good Men, Courage Under Fire, Ladder 49, Sleepless in Seattle, Dave, Thunder Harts, Malcolm X, Meteor Man, and the internationally acclaimed foreign film, Camp De Thiaroye. S. Robert Morgan is a recipient of the Mary Goldwater Theatre Lobby Award for which he was recognized for outstanding performance in the Source Theatre Company’s production, Snow Fall and Rhythm and Blues, by Caleen Sinnette Jennings.
About The Essential Theatre
The Essential Theatre is a nonprofit, professional theater dedicated, but not limited to producing theater reflective of the African American experience that explores and celebrates America’s rich, diverse cultural landscape. Paramount to the company’s mission is the implementation of programs for youth in the Washington, DC metropolitan area that promote interdisciplinary education and positive self-esteem. Founded in 1989, the company hosts a new play development program, The Essential Theatre’s New Play Reading Series and Children’s Program in Public Schools/Young Audiences. The company
also maintains relationships with area social services programs to provide opportunities to their clientele when possible. For tickets and more info visit www.theessentialtheatre.org or call (202) 967-6178.
About the Women’s Works Program
The Essential Theatre’s Women’s Works Program celebrates, investigates, and cultivates work for, by, and about women. As a means of reaching its target demographic, women aged 25 thru 65, The Essential Theatre endeavors to present one of its productions each year that is solely dedicated to women’s issues. It is a priority for the company to reach
out to women of all socioeconomic backgrounds through this program as it celebrates the triumphs and travails of women around the world.
