NYTW Presents New York Premiere of Pulitzer Prize Finalist Dael Orlandersmith’s Solo Show FOREVER, April 22 – May 31

Dale Orlandersmith. Photo by Kevin Berne

Tickets for the New York premiere of FOREVER, the fourth production of the New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) (Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director Jeremy Blocker) 2014/15 Season are now on sale at www.nytw.org. Created and performed by Pulitzer Prize finalist Dael Orlandersmith (Monster, The Gimmick) and directed by Neel Keller (The Nether), FOREVER begins previews on Wednesday, April 22nd and officially opens on Monday, May 4, 2015 at New York Theatre Workshop (79 E. 4th Street New York, NY 10003). FOREVER runs through Sunday, May 31, 2015.

Long-time New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect Dael Orlandersmith returns to the Workshop with an uplifting semi-autobiographical exploration of the family we are born into and the family we choose. FOREVER draws from Orlandersmith’s own pilgrimage to the famed Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris – the final resting place of legendary artists such as Marcel Proust, Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison. At the graveside of these timeless artists, Orlandersmith finds unexpected grace in a gripping tale of the legacy a daughter inherits from her mother.

FOREVER features scenic design by Takeshi Kata, costume design by Kaye Voyce, lighting design by Mary Louise Geiger, and sound design by Adam Phalen. FOREVER was originally commissioned and produced by Center Theatre Group, Kirk Douglas Theatre, Los Angeles, CA, Michael Ritchie, Artistic Director.

Single tickets for FOREVER are $75, with $35 tickets available from April 22nd through April 30th and $55 tickets available for performances from May 1st through May 8th. Membership packages are available at www.nytw.org or 212-279-4200.

Playwrights Fengar Gael, Lee Hunkins, Maxine Kern, Caridad Svich, Kara Lee Cothron, Dael Orlandersmith, Jenny Lee Bader at the League of Professional Theatre Women’s Roundtable Discussion: “Writing Plays By, For or About Women” at TheaterLab in New York on March 23, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

I met Dael and playwrights Fengar Gael, Lee Hunkins, Maxine Kern, LPTW Co-President, Caridad Svich, Kara Lee Cothron and Jenny Lee Bader at the League of Professional Theatre Women’s Roundtable Discussion: “Writing Plays By, For or About Women” at TheaterLab in New York on March 23, 2015. Check back for my full recap of a very illuminating and insightful night.
Mar. 23: League of Professional Theatre Women (LPTW) Presents “Roundtable Discussion: Writing Plays By, For, or About Women” at Theater Lab Featuring Dael Orlandersmith, Caridad Svich, Jenny Lyn Bader, Lee Hunkins, Kara Lee Corthron, Fengar Gael 

Dael Orlandersmith’s award-winning plays have been commissioned and presented by theatres across the U.S. Her plays include Stoop Stories (world premiere, Washington, D.C.’s Studio Theatre, 2009, also presented at CTG/Kirk Douglas Theatre, The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival and Apollo Theater’s Salon Series); Black n’ Blue Boys/Broken Men (world premiere, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2012, co-commission with Goodman Theatre and BRT); Horsedreams (world premiere, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, 2011, developed by New Dramatists and New York Stage and Film); Bones (world premiere, KDT, 2010, commissioned by Center Theatre Group); The Blue Album (world premiere, Long Wharf Theatre, 2007, in collaboration with David Cale); Yellowman (world premiere, McCarter Theatre, 2002, co-production with The Wilma Theater; Pulitzer Prize finalist; Drama Desk Award nominee, Outstanding Play, Outstanding Actress); The Gimmick (world premiere, McCarter Theatre, 1998, Susan Blackburn Prize; Long Wharf Theatre and New York Theatre Workshop); Monster (world premiere, New York Theatre Workshop,1996); Beauty’s Daughter (world premiere, American Place Theatre, 1995; Obie Award). Currently, she is working on Lady in Denmark (Goodman Theatre commission) and Antonio’s Song/I was dreaming of a Son. Orlandersmith has toured extensively with the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (Real Live Poetry) throughout the United States, Europe and Australia. Yellowman and a collection of her earlier works have been published by Vintage Books and Dramatists Play Service. She attended Sundance Institute Theatre Lab for four summers and is the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant, The Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, a Guggenheim and the 2005 PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award for a playwright in mid-career and a Lucille Lortel Foundation Playwrights Fellowship.

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia starred as Carole Barbara in Lorey Hayes’ Power Play at the 2013 National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C., with Pauletta Pearson Washington, Roscoe Orman. She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
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