Signature Theatre Company announces its 2008-2009 season

Signature Theatre Company has announced its 2008-2009 season celebrating the historic Negro Ensemble Company (NEC). The 2008-2009 Season will include productions of The First Breeze Of Summer by Leslie Lee, Home by Samm-Art Williams, and Zooman and the Sign by Charles Fuller.

Signature�s 2008-2009 season will be an examination of a body of work from the historic Negro Ensemble Company�s collective of writers, whose contributions have helped shape America�s theatrical heritage. Ruben Santiago-Hudson will serve as Associate Artist for the season.

"The Historic Negro Ensemble Company made an incredible impact on the landscape of American Theatre for over three decades and many of the most accomplished African Americans actors of our day nurtured their crafts inside the huge body of work that was presented at NEC. This season at Signature Theatre we will celebrate some of the incredible writers that provided the plays and roles that many careers were propelled out of." �Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Associate Artist.

NEC Founding Artistic Director Douglas Turner Ward said �Signature Theatre is to be commended for keeping alive the great artistic legacy of the historic Negro Ensemble Company. I am happy to assist in any way I can.�

Signature's 2008/09 Season:

The First Breeze Of Summer
Playwright: Leslie Lee
Director: Ruben Santiago-hudson
Cast: TBA
Synopsis: The struggles of three generations of the Edwards' family collide over the course of one sweltering weekend in June. Gremmar, the family matriarch, looks back on her past and considers its legacy for her children and grandchildren as they confront the choices that will define their futures. Leslie Lee�s Obie Award-winning play is a portrait of family bonds and coming of age.
Dates: 5 Aug - 28 Sep 2008.


Leslie Lee (Playwright). Lee's plays include 'The War Party,' 'Colored People�s Time,' 'Blues in a Broken Tongue,' 'The Rabbit�s Foot,' 'Black Eagles,' 'Elegy to a Down Queen,' 'Cops and Robbers,' 'Hannah Davis,' and the musicals 'Golden Boy,' with Charles Strouse and Lee Adams; Martin, with Charles Strouse; and 'Phillis' with Micki Grant. A new play,' The Book of Lambert,' will play at La MaMa ETC in Feb 2009. Mr. Lee�s awards include an OBIE, the Outer Circle Critics Award, the Arthur Miller playwriting Award and a Tony Nomination.

Ruben Santiago-hudson (Director). Santiago-hudson directed August Wilson's 'Seven Guitars' for the Signature Theatre Company in 2006. In 1996 he won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Canewell in the 1996 Broadway production of Wilson's 'Seven Guitars.' His other Broadway acting credits are 'Jelly�s Last Jam' (1992) and 'Gem of the Ocean' (2004).

Home
Playwright: Samm-Art Williams.
Director: TBA
Cast: TBA
Synopsis: Leaving behind his family�s farm in North Carolina, Cephus Miles seeks refuge and prosperity in the North. Three actors portray more than twenty-five characters over the course of Cephus�s epic journey from adolescence to adulthood, spanning the 1950�s through the Vietnam War and Civil Rights eras.
Dates: 11 Nov 2008 - 4 Jan 2009.


Samm-Art Williams (playwright): as a member of the Negro Ensemble Company�s Acting Repertory, Mr. Williams was an understudy in the Broadway production of 'The First Breeze of Summer' (1975). His NEC-produced plays are 'Home' (Tony nomination, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk Nomination, NAACP Image Award, and the North Carolina Governor�s Award) 'O, A Love Play,' 'Welcome to Black River,' and 'Eyes of the American.'

Zooman and the Sign
Playwright: Charles Fuller.
Director: Stephen McKinley Henderson.
Cast: TBA
Synopsis: A random act of violence leaves Reuben Tate and his family questioning their friends and neighbors, but their once caring community has been scared into helpless silence. As young Zooman terrorizes the neighborhood from the shadows, Reuben makes a dangerous appeal which may tear their world apart.
Dates: 3 Mar - 19 Apr 2009.


Charles Fuller (Playwright). Fuller achieved critical notice in 1969 with 'The Village: A Party.' He later wrote plays for the Henry Street Settlement theatre and the Negro Ensemble Company in New York. He won an Obie Award for 'Zooman and the Sign 'in 1980 and won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for 'A Soldier's Play.'

Stephen Mckinley Henderson (Director). In 2006 and 2007 Mr Henderson was cast in Signature Theatre�s productions of August Wilson�s 'King Hedley II' and 'Seven Guitars'. In the 2004-2005 New York season, he was cast as Van Helsing in, 'Dracula, The Musical' at The Belasco Theater. Mr. Henderson made his New York directorial debut with 'Ali!' by Geoffrey C. Ewing and Graydon Royce off-Broadway during the 1992 season.

As well as the three full productions named above, they will also be a staged reading of:

Day of Absence (Staged Reading)
Playwright: Douglas Turner Ward.
Director: Douglas Turner Ward.
Cast: TBA
Synopsis: Signature returns to the roots of the Negro Ensemble Company with a special staged reading of Douglas Turner Ward�s Day of Absence, the seminal 1965 play that inspired the founding of the NEC.
Dates: TBA.