Harlem School of the Arts’ Theatre Department presents “The Colored Museum,” written by George C. Wolfe and directed by Alfred Preisser. “The Colored Museum” takes the audience on a journey through the Black American experience.
An unforgettable cast of characters brings George C. Wolfe’s “personal exorcism” of Black cultural myths to life through the humor, pain and shockingly brutal honesty of Wolfe’s writing. This production of the 1986 work maintains its timelessness while inserting elements of the current Black experience for a new audience, performed and interpreted by the Harlem School of the Arts’ theater students ages 13 through 18.
“The Colored Museum” runs Friday, May 1 at 1 p.m.; Saturday, May 2 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.; and Sunday, May 3 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the doors ($15 for students and seniors). Tickets can be purchased at http://hsanyc.org/coloredmuseum2015. The show will take place on Harlem School of the Arts Theater stage, located at the Harlem School of the Arts, 645 St. Nicholas Ave., Harlem, N.Y.
“I chose this play to test the young company’s boundaries, also as a way to introduce them to a wealth of cultural and historical references,” said Alfred Preisser, who has just been named the first artistic director in Harlem School of the Art’s 50-year history. “The Colored Museum” marks the first production at the school under his tenure. “This is our first show of 2015, and we have a rich cast of multitalented youth who are in various departments at Harlem School of the Arts. Audiences will be amazed by the technique and talent of these teens.”
The seminal American play also features the classic music of Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross and the Temptations, as well famous African-American literary pieces.
New York City’s premier community arts institution, the Harlem School of the Arts, stands unique as the sole provider of arts education in four disciplines: music, dance, theater and visual arts, all within our award-winning 37,000-square-foot facility. The HSA’s reputation for artistic rigor and excellence attracts constituents of diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds from all five New York City boroughs, Westchester County, Connecticut and New Jersey. HSA’s alumni and faculty are counted among the most talented leaders in the arts.
For nearly 50 years, HSA has enriched the lives of tens of thousands of young people ages 2-18 through world-class training in the arts. HSA offers its students the freedom to find and develop the artist, student, and citizen within themselves in an environment that teaches discipline, stimulates creativity, builds self-confidence and adds a dimension of beauty to their lives, empowering them to become the creative thinkers and innovative leaders of tomorrow. To learn more about the Harlem School of the Arts, please visit hsanyc.org.