The First Breeze of Summer to star Leslie Uggams

Tony and Emmy Award winner Leslie Uggams will star in The First Breeze of Summer, the first production of Signature�s 2008-2009 season celebrating the historic Negro Ensemble Company (NEC).

Leslie Uggams last appeared on a New Yok stage as Ethel Thayer opposite James Earl Jones in the Broadway revival of Ernest Thompson�s 'On Golden Pond.' She made her Broadway debut in Hallelujah, Baby! (1967) for which she received the 1968 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She was awarded a Daytime Emmy for her hosting of the 1982/3 TV game-show 'Fantasy.'

The play, by Leslie Lee and directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, opens at the Peter Norton Space on 21 Aug 2008, following previews from 5 Aug and runs through to 28 Sep 2008.

The original production of The First Breeze of Summer, directed by NEC founder Douglas Turner Ward, received a Tony Award nomination for Best Play during its 1975 run at Broadway�s Palace Theatre.

The show takes place over the course of one sweltering weekend in June, as the struggles of three generations of the Edwards family collide. Gremmar (Leslie Uggams), 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.

Additional casting and a design team for The First Breeze of Summer will be announced soon.

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, which will also include Samm-Art Williams� Home, Charles Fuller�s Zooman and the Sign, and a staged reading of Douglas Turner Ward�s 'Day of Absence'.