'Uncle Jed's Barbershop' at the Theatre at St. Clements

Uncle Jed's Barbershop, a new family musical created by David B. Wohl, Kenneth Grimes and Susan Einhorn, at the Theatre at St. Clements from the 14 - 25 Sep 2005. Part of the Second New York Musical Theatre Festival.

The musical was inspired by the Coretta Scott King award-winning book by the same name, written by Margaree King Mitchell and illustrated by James Ransome. The musical theater adaptation develops a family story beyond the plot of of the original book. It fills in the character of Uncle Jed with the story of his marriage and adapts the narrator into three parts: the girl, Sarah Jean, as a child, a young woman, and a mature woman.

Synopsis: Uncle Jed's Barbershop begins in 1928 with Jedediah Johnson, the only black barber in Monroe County Arkansas, dreaming of building his own his own barbershop. Each time he makes headway, something happens, such as the near death of his favorite niece, Sarah Jean, that requires his personal or financial sacrifice. His dream is deferred over and over again until finally, as a much older man, he succeeds after accepting the help of his niece and their community.

In the musical, Sarah Jean (now a 50-year-old woman) returns home from Detroit in the early 1970s in conflict with herself. Her city life and marriage are unfulfilling and she misses the hopeful quest for something "more", which growing up with her great uncle represented. When she inherits her deceased uncle's shop during the early 1970's, it is initially not as meaningful to her as it was to him. Nonetheless, the power of his dream inspires her to fulfill one of her own. She convinces the community to take on the challenge of building a "Center For Dreams" on the same site as the shop.

Directed by Susan Einhorn and choreographed by Tanya Gibson-Clark, Uncle Jed's Barbershop features Ken Prymus, Darlene Bel Grayson, Nora Cole, LaVonda Elam, Olivia Ford, Daria Hardeman, Roumel Reaux, Rudy Roberson and Glenn Turner.

Uncle Jed's Barbershop was one of three musicals chosen last week to receive the 2005 Directors' Choice Award by a panel of seventy-two professional directors, music directors and choreographers under the leadership of Co-Guest Artistic Directors Patricia Birch and Kathleen Marshall, who evaluated over 125 works and selected three. Recipients will receive cash grants of $2,000. Following the NY Musical Theatre Festival presentation, they will be invited to be included as featured works in National Musical Theatre Network's BroadwayUSA! program of regional musical theater festivals.

Uncle Jed's Barbershop was also a finalist for the prestigious 2004 Richard Rodgers Awards (American Academy of Arts and Letters) and finalist for the 2004 O'Neill Musical Theater Conference. It was presented at the ASCAP/Disney workshop (New York) in the Spring of 2003. It has also recently received a $22,000 grant from the Denver Foundation/Eulipions Fund.

Dedicated to discovering new work and new artists, The New York Musical Theatre Festival celebrates the diversity, creativity, and future of musical theatre. NYMF is a flagship program of the National Music Theater Network, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, and is America�s largest annual musical theatre event.

Biographies:

Ken Prymus (Uncle Jed) has starred on Broadway in "The Wiz" and "Ain't Misbehavin'." He completed seven years of performing as Old Deuteronomy in the Broadway company of "Cats," giving him the title of Longest-Running Principal Performer on Broadway, Men's Division. TV: Johnny Mann's "Stand Up and "Cheer," "Kate & Allie," "Truck One," "Conan O'Brien," "Late Night with David Letterman," "Mad About You," "The Sopranos," "100 Center Street" and "Third Watch." Movies: "The Model Shop," "In Cold Blood," "The Young Americans," "MASH the Movie" and "Identity Crisis." Most recently, he appeared in London in "The Genius of Ray Charles" at Haymarket Theater.

David B. Wohl (Composer/co-lyricist) is the recipient of nine ASCAP Special Awards. He won Best Film Score Award in the 2003 Moondance International Film Festival for "Terror From Within." He composed music for the Emmy-award winning "Magic Door" (CBS), Emmy-award winning "Venturing" and Emmy-nominated "The New Workplace" (PBS). He has also composed for Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Food Network; Bas Bleu Theater Company's acclaimed production of Samuel Beckett's "Happy Days" (International Beckett Festival, Vancouver, Canada); the Colorado Shakespeare Festival's "Bourgeois Gentleman" and "The Tempest," and the for recently inaugurated "Bug Carousel" for the Bronx Zoo/Wildlife Conservation Society. He teaches music composition and music improvisation at Colorado State University, School of the Arts, Fort Collins CO.

Kenneth Grimes (Bookwriter, co-lyricist) has written over a dozen plays, most produced in Colorado. These include "Reverend W.T. Liggins,": "Ain't No Grave, Black Punk," "Passion Rhapsody," "Barca: Men of Lightning," "The Queen Must Die" and "Gifts: A Lesson in Giving." He has directed numerous plays and new works with the Denver Black Arts Company, Eulipions Theatre, Changing Scene Theater, City Stage Theater, Metropolitan State College and others. In 1998, he received the Writer of the Year Award from Urban Spectrum Magazine. Mr. Grimes is currently an educator with Colorado State University Denver Cooperative Extension.

Susan Einhorn (Director, co-creator) has directed over sixty productions. After receiving her M.F.A. in Directing, she worked as Assistant Director to Alan Schneider for four Broadway productions. She has directed at the Promenade, Westside Theatre, Circle in the Square, the Vineyard, Primary Stages, Playwrights Horizons and La MaMa, HB Playwrights Theatre, Open Space, Ubu Rep, and Jewish Rep, among many others, as well as at major regional theaters including Milwaukee Rep, Syracuse Stage, Pittsburgh Public, Whole Theatre, and in Washington D.C. at Arena Stage, New Playwrights Theatre and Studio Theatre.

Tanya Gibson-Clark (Choreographer) choreographed Bregenzer Festspiele in Bregenz, Austria production of "Porgy and Bess," directed by Goetz Freidriech. She has also choreographed "Minstrel" for Queens Theater in the Park, "Spunk" and "No way to treat a lady" for Great Barrington Stage Company and "Home" for Theatre Works in Hartford, and an original work for DTW's "Women In Dance" series.