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Marquise Neal In Kids of the Arts’ Dream Street

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World famous director Sebastian Rickter is holding open auditions for a new West End musical called Dream Street and is looking for undiscovered talent. No, this isn’t an actual call for a new original work from London, but it is straight from London, and Dream Street is making an Off-Broadway premiere at New York’s Pearl Theatre Aug. 12-16.

With book, music and lyrics by Jo Noel-Hartley, the funny (perhaps this can be considered reality theater) production follows the personal journeys and challenges of cast members of very different backgrounds. Through determination and making great new friendships, the synopsis reads, they discover that dreams can come true.

The talent included in the nearly 80-member alternating cast of leads and understudies, includes young Broadway standout Marquise Neal – an original cast member of the Tony-winning Kinky Boots as “Young Lola” as well as a Grammy winner for the musical’s original cast album. Designated as one of the Top 5 Kids to Debut On Broadway, Neal will portray “Charlie” in Dream Street. One of several youngsters living on the fictional Dean Street, Charlie – your average 12-year-old who loves football – is encouraged by his teacher to audition for the show and discovers he’s pretty darn good.

One of the lines Neal sings from Dream Street is: “Maybe today is the day I’m not rejected.” Sure, Neal is bound to not get some role during his career but his reality is one where he is living out his dreams. He has performed in numerous shows sharing stages with the likes of Ben Vereen, André de Shields, Obba Babatunde, Tony Danza and Liz McKendry.

Having appeared in the top-rated Netflix TV series “Orange Is The New Black,” the Newark, NJ, native started singing with Newark Symphony Hall Special Ensemble – the No. 1 youth choir in the state – in 2011. The ensemble won first place in the youth category for the McDonald’s Gospel Fest.

As a youth ambassador with music-education organization Dreamality, Inc., Neal interviewed Broadway stars – including Kinky Boots stars Billy Porter, singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper, legendary actor-playwright Harvey Fierstein – about pursuing dreams for its Dream Out Loud campaign. When interviewing Clifton Davis on what the phrase “dream out loud” meant to him, Neal learned that one must ‘speak what you want to do into existence; say the dream and make it become reality.’

Dream Street is also about making dreams come true for the community, especially youth. Director Laura Luc, founder of Kids of the Arts, is donating a portion of proceeds from her productions to the homeless youth charity Covenant House. She is one of many members of the Broadway community participating in Sleep Out: Broadway Edition (Aug 17), sleeping on the street for one night to raise money and awareness for Covenant House. Additionally, Dream Street tickets will be donated to Veteran Ticket Foundation. After a cast member did an Internet search for Dream Street (with a dreamstreetnyc.com address) and landed on DreamStreet Theatre Company (with a dreamstreetnyc.org address), the KOTA production teamed up the company to bring awareness to its mission to bring the joy of theatre to special needs performers.

Luc founded KOTA when she was 11. Since 2001, her organization has produced shows Off-Broadway and regionally, along with workshops and benefit productions, involving more than 450 actors, creative and staff members. KOTA urges youth to “create your world.”

The world of Marquise Neal is one that is still taking shape, but one audiences of all ages will want to experience. Soon to co-star in the upcoming web series “How To Make It Big” – about more wanna-be thespians – Neal is far from being a wanna-be and sure to be on to bigger and better dreams.

Dream Street runs for nine performances. Visit dreamstreetnyc.com for more information. Follow Marquise on Instagram: @marquiseneal_

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A Must See

We Were There: Sojourners & Her Portmanteau

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Playwright, educator, opera singer, and Queen, Mfoniso Udofia has two plays running at New York Theatre Workshop. *pause* TWO PLAYS. In the SAME season!?!? *ends congratulatory gasp* Sojourners and Her Portmanteau are performed in repertory, as two chapters of Udofia’s sweeping, nine-part saga, The Ufot Cycle.  Admittedly, before researching each show, I didn’t know the definition of either word; and in the spirit of keeping it consistent with the honesty, I didn’t like either play. I loved them.

Sojourners

Minimalism seems to be the name of the game these days.  I sat down to a completely black stage, sans a multimedia display lodged on the ceiling at a 45-degree angle.  Clutching my all white program and bobbing my head to the ‘70s pop rock pre-show music, I prepared my heart for the story of Sojourners, well at least that was the plan.  The stage begins to rotate and we meet Abasiama (Chinasa Ogbuagu) and Ukpong (Hubert Point-Du Jour), Nigerian expatriates sojourning in Houston, Texas with the plan to start a family, earn their degrees, and go back to Nigeria until life happens.

Charming and handsome, Ukpong becomes defined by his leather jacket, shoulder work and shimmy which match the fascination and yearning for freedom that illuminates his eyes every time he talks of peace, protest, and Prince–all shaping his view of 1970s America, and consequently, the American Dream.  But does leather compensate for grit? Is a movement or vibe really a panacea for disappointment, aimlessness, and a need to find yourself?  Abasiama enters the play pregnant, purposed, and outfitted in pieces of Nigerian garb, grounded in duty showing a stark contrast to Ukpong who floats in desire.  What’s lost in your household is found elsewhere, and this is when we start to see, and root for, Abasiama’s transformation from timid to tenacious.

Enter Moxie (Lakisha May), a colorful prostitute turned protector and friend.  There is a mutual respect despite great differences between her and Abasiama, with their love for one another creating moments that make you believe in the beauty of humanity.  Enter Disciple (Chinaza Uche), another warm and determined hearted immigrant who has come to the United States to study, rounding out the timely additions of love, support, and security when Abasiama needed them the most.

Through and through this is Abasiama’s story and she glows.  Her kindness, her sisterhood, her strength, her worthiness, and the realization of her American Dream, guide her decisions—which is the catalyst behind the entire Ufot Cycle.

Her Portmanteau

Her “portmanteau”, or red suitcase, makes a return as 30 years have passed.  Abasiama now has two daughters, one raised in America and the other who has come from Nigeria to reconnect with her family.

This is a good moment to mention that each story is informed by the other, but can certainly stand alone on substance, content, and the amazing direction of Ed Sylvanus Iskandar.  The staging is exciting and deliberate, while minimal, putting the full focus on the tension and growth to be expected of a family reunited after a substantial amount of time and distance.

Chinasa Ogbuagu returns to the stage, this time as the American-born daughter, Adiagha Ufot, Adepero Oduye as Iniabasi Ekpeyoung (Ukpong and Abasiama’s daughter), and Jenny Jules as the mother, Abasiama Ufot.

Seated on a couch in Adiagha’s small New York Apartment, no amount of preparation readies your mind and spirit to form the words to make up for 30 years of life, connection, and memories missed.  We’re taken on a ride of resentment, hurt, love, and forgiveness, as the portmanteau is literally unpacked.  We watch the teeter-tottering between offense and defense as one sister tries to assimilate into American culture, and the other attempts, albeit stubbornly, to fall in formation in honoring a family she shares blood with, but little time or tangible history.

It’s powerful to see a story of history and continuing a legacy despite lost time, faulty promises, and difficult choices explored with an all-woman cast as far too often the idea of legacy is framed in patriarchy.  Jules admirably takes Abasiama through the fire to heal, to feel, and to fix her family.  The narrative allows us to empathize and understand the struggle that comes with upholding family values versus cultivating a space to achieve personal dreams and happiness.

Her Portmanteau (and Sojourners) is written in a way that finds your soul, gently massaging it with humor, while leaving it with very real questions.  I’ve never felt a greater need to binge read nine stories and simultaneously study the story of my own family tree. I left changed. I left wrapped in the strength of my mom and my mom’s- mom’s sacrifice.  I left pensive and with seeds of future forgiveness planted.  I left changed.

For capturing our hearts with wit and with truth.  For putting Black women at the center of a poignant narrative.  For unapologetically telling a story you haven’t seen told and telling it in the way you want it to be told.

We thank you Mfoniso.  We thank you.

Have you seen the #duetplays? Sound off in the comments below![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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A Must See

Our Story in 2 Plays for 1 Price: Mfoniso Udofia’s Sojourners & Her Portmanteau

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Last winter, we reported on Sojourners by playwright Mfoniso Udofia, a new play about a Nigerian family who has come to America with the goal of earning a college education, starting a family, and returning to Nigeria. But not without the twists and turns that come along with every plan that seems straightforward.

Image result for Sojourners and Her Portmanteau

Thanks to New York Theatre Workshop, we get to relive this moment and continue the dialogue, decades later, with Her Portmanteau. Performed in repertory, these two chapters of Udofia’s sweeping, nine-part saga, The Ufot Cycle, chronicle the triumphs and losses of the tenacious matriarch of a Nigerian family.

Ed Sylvanus Iskandar directs the two-part story in association with The Playwrights Realm, who premiered Sojourners last winter in a limited engagement world premiere production. Her Portmanteau also received the 2016 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award grant.

The cast includes Jenny JulesLakisha Michelle MayAdepero OduyeChinasa OgbuaguHubert Point-Du Jour, and Chinaza Uche.

As if that wasn’t enough to get excited about, we have an exclusive deal for our Broadway Black readers!

Our Story in 2 Plays for 1 Price!

Yes. That’s two shows for one price! The discount code BWYBLACK will take 50% off tickets to ANY performance(s) if purchased by May 15th! 

Go ahead and grab your tickets. We have ours!

Sojourners and Her Portmanteau plays at NYTW until June 4th.

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Twitter: @BroadwayBlack

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