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King Hedley II
come in February 2006
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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: January 4, 2006
Contact: AAPACT
PO Box 472451
Miami ,
Florida
33247
(866) 390-4534
Fax:
253-498-8917
Email:
aapact@yahoo.com
King
Hedley II
– The
Stage Play Production
AAPACT
HONORS THE MEMORY OF THE LATE PLAYWRIGHT
AUGUST WILSON WITH THEIR PRODUCTION OF HIS
CONTROVERSIAL PLAY KING HEDLEY II
DURING BLACK HISTORY MONTH.
Miami
- The African
American Performing Arts Community
Theatre proudly presents its
production of King Hedley II,
written by the late, incomparable
playwright August Wilson. The
play stars some of South Florida’s
finest actors, Andre’ L. Gainey,
Carolyn Johnson, Charles Bonamy,
Earlington Valstalsky Taylor, Viviene
Dawson and William J. Barnes.
Directed by Teddy Harrell, Jr.
Performances will
run from February 2 through February 26, 2006 at
the Carrie P.
Meek Senior and Cultural Center at the Charles Hadley
Park Black Box Theatre,
1300 NW 50th Street
, Miami ,
Florida .
Regular evening
performances are 8 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
Matinee Performances are
Sundays at 3 pm .
On
February 2, 2006 ,
AAPACT is offering a Free Dress
Rehearsal Performance of King
Hedley II to the General Public
at 7 pm .
Please call
(866) 390-4534 or email to
aapact@yahoo.com to RSVP.
A Special
Talk-Back session is being sponsored by
The
Florida
Humanities Council and moderated by Dr. Dorothy Jenkins
Fields, Founder of The Black Archive
History & Research Foundation of South
Florida, Inc. on Friday,
February 3, 2006
immediately following that evenings’
performance.
Showtime is 7 pm . This Performance is free
to the first 50 people to reserve
tickets.
Please call
(866) 390-4534 or email to
aapact@yahoo.com to RSVP.
King Hedley II
is an epic tragedy of the common man and
the crushing weight of everyday life and
our ultimate struggle to regain our
sense of community and culture in a
crumbling urban society.
Set in 1985 in two tenement backyards in
Pittsburgh ’s
Hill District, King Hedley II
takes place during a time of drive-by
shootings and Reaganomics that don't
trickle down as far as the Hill
District. King Hedley II (Gainey)
and his friend, Mister (Taylor),
make ends meet by fencing "hot"
refrigerators until they can get the
money together to start a video store.
King's wife, Tonya ( Dawson ) is pregnant but,
already a grandmother at 35, she does
not want to have the baby. King
is insistent. The arrival in town of his
mother Ruby's (Johnson) ex-lover
Elmore (Barnes) triggers a series
of events that cause King to
question his manhood and his identity.
King Hedley
II continued playwright August
Wilson's monumental cycle of plays
chronicling African-American life in
twentieth century America . King Hedley
II is a still-young man who
has already seen more than his share of
trouble. His beloved girlfriend,
Neesi, died not long ago, and his
current relationship with wife Tonya
seems an imperfect substitute. He also
spent seven years in prison for killing
a man who cut his face with a knife.
Hedley bears the permanent physical
scar.
The audience will feel the characters
frustration, anger, and pain
as
Hedley,
one of
Wilson
's great creations, a man of infinite complexity displays he
is capable of gentleness and towering
rages. He may very well be seen as a
modern Shakespeare’s Othello. Like
Othello, Hedley is
immersed in a world where tragedy is the
inevitable conclusion of a cycle that is
at once within his control and beyond
it.
To August Wilson ’s acclaim it has been said that:
“No one except perhaps Eugene O’Neill
and Tennessee Williams has aimed so high
and achieved so much in the American
Theatre.” –John Lahr, New Yorker
“What makes Wilson America’s greatest
playwright-aside from his gift for
dialogue, which blends searing poetry
with uncompromising realism-is the
bracing humanism with which he provides
insight into the struggles and
aspirations of all individuals.”-
Elysa Gardner , USA Today
“King Hedley II dazzles you about the
world we live in and the music its
language. A grand, impassioned play, it
finds fertile ground in a blasted corner
of the American landscape.”-Wall
Street Journal
Teddy Harrell, Jr,
Director of King Hedley II
and Founder of the African American
Performing Arts Community Theatre (AAPACT)
shared, “Producing this play, at this
time is so gratifying to AAPACT. Many
theatrical professionals grieve the loss
of this immensely talented playwright.
His gifts to the American Theatre cannot
be forgotten. AAPACT will produce more
of August Wilson ’s plays for South Florida audiences to witness his remarkable
work.”
Andre’ L. Gainey
(King Hedley II) has dazzled
audiences throughout South Florida in
such productions of Purlie Victorious,
Flying West, Hampton House,
One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show Riff Raff,
Piano Lesson, Fiction of Law, Prelude to
a Kiss, Sizwe Bansi is Dead and
On The Porch opposite Danny Glover
at the Miami Arena.
Mr. Gainey
is a co-founder of AAPACT and has
directed two of its plays-The Island
and Sizwe Bansi is Dead. He is a
Miami-Dade County School Board Educator
at William Turner Technical School .
Carolyn Johnson
(Ruby) is a veteran actress who
has been seen in such plays as the
Christmas Cantata, The Rapture, Old
Settler and Flyin’ West in
which she was nominated the coveted
South Florida Curtain Up Award for Best
Featured Actress in a play.
Charles Bonamy
(Stool Pigeon) is not a stranger
to August Wilson
plays, Mr. Bonamy was featured in the
role of Troy
in the Wilson play Fences at the University Center for Performing Arts. He has also
performed in the plays You Can’t Take
It With You, Runaways and A Tomb
With A View at the Pompano Players
Theatre. Mr. Bonamy has been featured in
numerous commercials, movie and
television roles.
Earlington
Valstalsky Taylor (Mister)
has been featured in such plays as
Top Dog Under Dog, The River Niger , Othello, A Chorus Line, West Side Story,
Romeo and Juliet, Once on this Island,
Rocky Horror Picture Show, Brigadoon
and
Music
Man.
Viviene Dawson
(Tonya) love for theatre has
led her to perform in such plays as
Shakin’ The Mess Outta Misery, The Color
Purple, Double Lives, Never Nothing
Again, Six Women Dancing and
Prisoner. Ms. Dawson is a graduate
of the School of Drama at Miami Dade
College .
William J.
Barnes (Elmore) is a native
of
Hampton , Virginia . As an actor he has performed in
AAPACT’s Sizwe Bansi is Dead. Mr.
Barnes is a celebrated spoken word
artist having authored a series of
poetry books. Voice-Over projects
include Texas Southern University,
Parley Cosmetics, Unique Hair, and
numerous Local and National TV
commercials.
Teddy Harrell, Jr. (Director)
conceived AAPACT in 1998 and has
directed three of its previous
productions, Riff Raff,
Once On this Island and co-directed Sizwe Bansi is Dead.
As an actor he has been featured
in numerous productions in South Florida including The Island and Sizwe
Bansi is Dead for AAPACT.
Set Design and
Construction by Dudley Pinder
Lighting Design by
Apon Nichols
Stage Manager is
Quanikqua Bryant
AAPACT Business
Manager Trellany L. McMath
Free Dress
Rehearsal Performance on Thursday, February 2, 2006
, to the General Public at 7 pm . Please call (866) 390-4534 or email to
aapact@yahoo.com to RSVP.
Special
Talk-Back Session sponsored by the
Florida Humanities Council on
Friday, February 3, 2006
at 7 pm immediately following that evenings’ performance.
Please call (866) 390-4534 or email to
aapact@yahoo.com to RSVP.
Official Opening
Performance on Saturday, February 4, 2006 .
Showtime at
8 pm. Meet and greet
the cast of King Hedley II. Gala
Ticket price is $25.00. Please call
(866) 390-4534 or email to
aapact@yahoo.com to RSVP.
Special Free
Industry Performance on Monday,
February 13, 2006 at 8 pm.
AAPACT invites all South Florida actors,
directors, producers, technical theatre
professionals, writers and other artists
to see King Hedley II. Please
call (866) 390-4534 or email to
aapact@yahoo.com to RSVP.
Advance tickets are $15.00 and at the
door is $20.00. The cost of the Saturday
night Official Opening Performance is
$25.00. Senior and Group rates
available. Special rates offered to
organizations.
The African
American Performing Arts Theatre Company
was founded in 1999. The company is
composed of local black actors,
directors and stage technical
professional who strive to enhance and
promote cultural awareness and education
through the performing arts to inner
city youth and theatergoers in the
surrounding Miami-Dade County community. AAPACT is a
not-for-profit 501(3)c organization, all
contributions are tax deductible.
For additional
information contact AAPACT at (866)
390-4534 or email at
aapact@yahoo.com. Visit us on the
World Wide Web at
www.aapact.com.
XXXX
Andre’
L. Gainey (King Hedley II)
has dazzled audiences throughout South
Florida in such productions of Purlie
Victorious, Flying West,
Hampton House, One Monkey Don’t Stop No
Show Riff Raff, Piano Lesson, Fiction of
Law, Prelude to a Kiss, Sizwe Bansi is
Dead and On The Porch
opposite Danny Glover at the Miami
Arena. Mr.
Gainey is a co-founder of AAPACT and has
directed two of its plays-The Island
and Sizwe Bansi is Dead. He is a
Miami-Dade County School Board Educator
at William Turner Technical
School.
Carolyn
Johnson (Ruby) is a veteran
actress who has been seen in such plays
as the Christmas Cantata, The
Rapture, Old Settler and Flyin’
West in which she was nominated the
coveted South Florida Curtain Up Award
for Best Featured Actress in a play.
Charles
Bonamy (Stool Pigeon) is not
a stranger to August
Wilson plays, Mr. Bonamy was
featured in the role of
Troy in the Wilson play Fences at the University Center for Performing Arts. He has also
performed in the plays You Can’t Take
It With You, Runaways and A Tomb
With A View at the Pompano Players
Theatre. Mr. Bonamy has been featured in
numerous commercials, movie and
television roles.
Earlington
Valstalsky Taylor (Mister)
has been featured in such plays as
Top Dog Under Dog, The River Niger , Othello, A Chorus Line, West Side Story,
Romeo and Juliet, Once on this Island,
Rocky Horror Picture Show, Brigadoon
and
Music
Man.
Viviene
Dawson (Tonya) love for
theatre has led her to perform in such
plays as Shakin’ The Mess Outta
Misery, The Color Purple, Double Lives,
Never Nothing Again, Six Women Dancing
and Prisoner. Ms. Dawson is a
graduate of the School of Drama at Miami
Dade College.
William
J. Barnes (Elmore) is a
native of
Hampton ,
Virginia . As an actor he has
performed in AAPACT’s Sizwe Bansi is
Dead. Mr. Barnes is a celebrated
spoken word artist having authored a
series of poetry books. Mr. Barnes media
endeavors include an HIV’AIDS PSA for
Florida International University and as
an On-Air Personality and voice over
artist for NOVA Southeastern University
– WNSU Radio X.
Teddy
Harrell, Jr. (Director) conceived
AAPACT in 1998 and has directed three of
its previous productions, Riff Raff,
Once on this Island and co-directed Sizwe Bansi is Dead. As
an actor he has been featured in
numerous productions in South Florida
including The Island and Sizwe
Bansi is Dead for AAPACT.
Set Design and
Construction by Dudley Pinder
Lighting Design by
Apon Nichols
Stage Manager is
Quanikqua Bryant
Free Dress
Rehearsal Performance on
Thursday, November 3, 2005, to the
General Public at 6:30 pm. Please
call 305-751-4043 or email to
aapact@yahoo.com to RSVP.
