Meet the Playwright: Nathan Ross Freeman, Monday, Feb 23rd (Nashville)

Nathan Ross Freeman

The African American Playwrights Exchange presents a reading of HANNAH ELIAS, conceived by Johnnie "Blue" Gardner and written by Nathan Ross Freeman. 

HANNAH ELIAS tells the true story of the scandal which swirled around the "enchantress" Hannah Elias ca. 1900 in New York City. The reading, directed by Franchesa Kirkpatrick, is the 35th event in the Metro Nashville Parks Theatre Department's New Play Reading Series. Free to the public, HANNAH ELIAS:The Reading, takes place at 7:00 pm, Monday, February 23 in the Centennial Black Box Theatre, Centennial Arts Activity Center, Centennial Park. Playwright Nathan Ross Freeman will be traveling to Nashville from Winston Salem for the reading of his play. Come to Nashville and Go to the Theatre!

Nathan Ross Freeman's HANNAH ELIAS at La Mama (NYC)

Nathan Ross Freeman

Jaz Dorsey interviews Nathan Ross Freeman, author of HANNAH ELIAS, winner of the AAPEX Best Historical Drama Award 2008. Check out the upcoming NYC reading of HANNAH ELIAS, directed by George Ferencz at the legendary La Mama theatre-- and don't miss this tale of mansions, murder and scandal in turn of the century New York.

What role did theatre and the arts play in your childhood and upbringing?
Very little, actually. I was a percussionist, athlete (Track Scholarship to St. Joseph’s University, Philly) revolutionary, Political Scientist up 'til I was 22, in that order.

Tell us about your own evolution as an artist.
I was hired as a paraprofessional right out of college, to teach remedial reading in an alternative school in Philly. I discovered theatre as a way to address remedial reading and behavioral modification for, then termed, Socially, Emotionally Disturbed Adolescents. Wrote my first play "Where Is Momma" for a class of pregnant teens who were both single parents and living in single parent house holds. Temple University celebrated the work at Walk Auditorium under the dramaturgy of the renowned Rudy Wallace. I also directed the play. It was horribly staged, but the content brought the audience to tears and effectively created a new department at the alternative school. I remember sitting the last of 3 nights after everyone was gone from the theatre and staring at the ghost light and feeling the melancholic rush that is theatre. I remember the very moment in that empty theatre falling deeply, deeply in love.

More, though, I recognized theatre in its live presentation as the most effective medium for art to do something. The potential to affect immediate and systemic change. So, Theatre and Teen Education became my calling. I forsook any and all previous ambitions for the love of theatre, and later, film.

What inspired you to write HANNAH ELIAS and what are some of the adventures you have had in researching and writing the play?
A close, close friend and colleague, actor and partner in the development of Hannah Elias, Johnnie “Blue” Gardner, a revolutionary historian, loved the hidden legends published in J. A. Roger’s books. He found Roger’s account of Hannah Elias in Sex And Race: Volume II. In 1991 Blue brought me the story. To paraphrase Blue in his attack, “Hey, Nate, you have got to check out this story about a black woman, Hannah Elias. It is the most incredible story I have ever discovered.” I said great. I will get around to it. This went on for 3 years. Finally he cornered me, sat me down and we examined the account. I have yet to forgive myself for waiting so long. I immediately took all projects off the board and we began convincing Larry Leon Hamlin of the NC Black Rep (producer of the National Black Theatre Festival) to create a Hannah Elias development workshop, working with professional actors.

For various and sundry reasons the workshops didn’t pan out and Blue and I decided to develop Hannah Elias ourselves. I wrote the script. Blue co-starred as Cornelius Williams in a showcase production at Winston Salem State University. Were it not for Johnnie “Blue” Gardner, we would not be having this interview. Make sure you get Blue’s take on our trek with Hannah Elias. He has veritably lived with her.

The adventure in researching the script was amazing. It was like a whodunit. We hired an intern from NC School of the Arts to travel to DC and NYC to research the facts. She was blocked and turned away at every pass, including the Tilden Trust which Andrew Haswell Green founded to create NYC Libraries. Eventually her father, a DC lawyer, took her off the project telling her it was not a subject to be snooping around about. We’re talking about the death of Andrew Haswell Green, after all, the Father of Greater New York.

So we scrounged every newspaper article from October 1904 to 1906 that followed the enormous truly, truly stranger that fiction accounts of Hannah Elias. The most extraordinary gift the play offers is the standing mystery of Whatever happened to Hannah Elias. It’s as if, after the ruling by the Supreme Court on the law suits brought against her, she disappeared into thin air. So the audiences that will experience Hannah will have more than a post cocktail discussion. The play will create a compulsive journey for buffs to find Hannah’s legacy, offspring and heritage. And every poetic license scene is carefully crafted to reflect the facts. Yet, it still stands to reveal even more details that we are eager discover. Many, many New Yorkers don’t even know who Hannah Elias or Andrew Haswell Green are.

If you got on your"theatre soapbox" today, what is the one thing you would rant about?
How theatre is nowhere near dead. How technology and electronic media will not only NOT bury theatre, but, indeed, in the end, lead everyone inexorably to view theatre as the ultimate visual-audio sensory experience. You can only get so virtual before our brains want to smell, taste, touch, see and hear in the Now. It is my firm knowing that we are headed for a Theatre Renaissance. There is nothing, nothing
like the close encounter stare that possesses a person after the Curtain falls on the first play they have witnessed. Nothing! Remember yours?

To learn more about the free reading Thursday, February 2nd at 7:30PM,

please click the post's title.

Advanced tickets sales now on for Nathan Ross Freeman's HANNAH ELIAS (Nashville)

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The AAPEX production of Nathan Ross Freeman's HANNAH ELIAS starring HELEN SHUTE-PETTAWAY is now ON! Exactly one year from the date of our NYC reading, we will celebrate JUNETEENTH with this devasting ommission from the story of our country and the lawsuit nobody wants to talk about to this day. In order to raise the $700.00 rent for The Darkhorse, opening night tickets are available for a mere $7.00 if you purchase them NOW (so we can pay that rent.) General admission for subsequent performances will be $20.00. Arrangments for tickets can be made by email at aapextv@gmail.com Come to Nashville and go to the theater.

Helen "Olaketi" Shute Pettaway tackles HANNAH ELIAS at Vanderbilt

Helen “Olaketi” Shute-Pettaway was bitten by the theatre bug as a child in Cleveland, Ohio. The love affair began there at Karamu House while taking classes in dance and acting. She received her professional training at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. In Nashville, she has worked with Tennessee Repertory Theatre, Mockingbird Theatre, Nashville Childrens Theatre, American Negro Playwright Theatre, and Amun­Ra among others. She is currently Theatre Director for The Village Cultural Arts Center. She also serves as Theatre Director for Healing Waters Productions. Some favorite Shakespearean roles include Olivia in The Tempest, Titania in A Midsummer Nights Dream, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, and Nurse in Romeo and Juliet. An important work, which is very special to her, is We Say of Ourselves, a two-woman project with Denice Hicks. Theatre is magic and is an absolute necessity in her life. She feels blessed to be able to share it with others.

AAPEX Brings Hannah and the Madam to Vanderbilt U 2/16/09 (Nashville)

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The African American Playwrights Exchange invites you to join us at The Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center at Vanderbilt University at 7 pm on Monday, February 16 for DISCOVER AMERICA - AN EVENING WITH HANNAH ELIAS AND MADAM C J WALKER. Starring Helen "Olaketi" Shute Petteway and Jewel Lucien. RSVP to Jaz Dorsey at jazmn47@aol.com or by phone at 615-915-0891.

AAPEX 2009 Black Women's Stage Project

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Hannah Elias NYC casting complete!

AAPEX has put together a stellar cast of Broadway veterans for

The Players Club reading of

Nathan Ross Freeman's

Hannah Elias.

Because of limited seating at the legendary Players Club, seating is going fast.

RSVP now to gumsandals@yahoo.com

*Indicates member of Actors Equity

Leilani Bryant
as Hannah Elias

She has performed on Broadway in the musical The Color Purple. She has also performed in the Broadway musical Show Boat, a benefit concert for Carnegie Hall. Other accomplishments include featured vocalist for Music Under the Stars with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, as well as featured vocalist for the Florida Jasper Awards. Leliani is a native of Jacksonville, FL. *

Tobi Kanter

as Belle Marshall

After a spate of playing under-five and principal roles as Irish-heritage police officers on all the New York soaps, Tobi Kanter has graduated to the role of Irish maid. (Her Lithuanian and Hungarian grandparents are rolling in their graves, but Tobi’s having the time of her life!) She was last seen as Tanta Rose in the WorkShop Theater Company’s full production of Martin Sherman’s Messiah and the Polish Snuff Film Victim in Loren Marsh’s black comedy movie, Invitation to a Suicide, as well as roles in Woody Allen’s Celebrity, The Jane Pauley Show, HBO’s Earthly Possessions and Saturday Night Live. SAG, AFTRA, AEA. *

Jerome P. Bates

as Cornelius Williams

Jerome Preston Bates created the role of Floyd Barton in the world premiere of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. He has appeared in King Lear at Classical Theatre of Harlem and at the Folgers in Washington, DC. His television credits include NYPD Blue, All My Children, One Life to Live, as well as numerous appearances on NBC’s Third Watch and Law & Order. He appeared in the remake of the 1970’s classic Shaft, starring Samuel L. Jackson and HBO’s original series Oz. He directed Eddy P, from the Oedipus Project as seen through the eyes of the Black Panthers Party. His play Electric Lady is about Jimi Hendrix. *

Stu Richel
as Andrew H. Green & John R. Platt

NYC theatre: Merry Wives of Windsor (Lion), Autoeroticism in Detroit (Blue Heron), The Lower Depths (Manhattan Ensemble Theatre), Slaughter City (WOW Café), The Philanderer (Jan Hus), East Village Chronicles (Metropolitan Playhouse), and Bag Fulla Money (Clurman). Principle roles in 22 indie films, including Death in Love (Sundance 2008; Jacqueline Bisset’s husband), Sexland (with Dan Fogler) and Hiding Divya (Madhur Jaffrey’s companion). TV: 30 Rock (Alex Baldwin’s boss), As the World Turns and One Life To Live. In earlier lives...a corporate attorney...and combat photographer with the 1st Infantry Division.*

Liliane Klein
as Red Head Maid & Brunette Maid

NYC: Me and My Girl (McGinn/Cazale Theatre, Musicals Tonight!), I Wanna Be Rosie (La Mama, E.T.C.), The Greeks (MET, IMUA!), Narative Intervention (Here, IMUA!), Do I Hear $5? (St. Clements). National Tours: Titanic(Candlewood), Scrooge (NYSO), Cyrano De Bergerac (NTAE), The Little Prince (NTPA), Tikki Tikki Tembo & Friends (StorySalad). Liliane plays Terry the Turtle on Kid Fitness (PBS). Recording: Stage Stars Gypsy (Mama Rose). Training: Boston University (BFA). Member: AEA, SAG, CFS, NJ Rep, The Players.*

Jessica Fontaine

as Clara Elias-Hudson
Jessica Fontaine is blessed to be back on stage for her fifth production this year. After earning a BFA at Howard University, Jessica moved back to New York with one thing on her mind: becoming a working actress. Theatre credits include The Sanctuary, an Off-Broadway production at The American Theatre for Actors. She stunned people as little old Birdie Lee in Tambourines To Glory. Her debut lead role was in Antigone Assata Shakur. Jessica’s consistency and determination for acting stems from her belief that “with God all things are possible” and gives thanks to her family for their unconditional support. www.nycastings.com/msfontaine.

Jonathan Marbelli

as Detective 1

Past theatre work includes: Mr. Bumble in Berkeley Repertory’s Oliver Twist (understudy), Benjamin Cohen in the Contemporary American Theatre Co’s production of The Underpants, Walter in Keely & Du,Williamson in Glengarry Glen Ross, Roderigo in Othello, and Yovan in Division Street. Television: Made-for-TV movie Skin Complex. You may also see Jon in the upcoming web-series pilot Penelope’s Playland. Jon would like to thank his loving, devoted, and supportive family and friends. Above all he thanks God for-- well-- everything.

Nick Raio

as Detective 2

Nick Raio is a Bronx born New York based actor/writer and member of SAG, AEA, AFTRA and the Dramatists Guild. Nick will be on the season premiere of Rescue Me as the AA group leader. Other TV credits include The Sopranos, Law & Order: CI, America’s Most Wanted, numerous soap operas and commercials. Films presently available on DVD include One-Third, Invitation to a Suicide, Mob Queen and Unsavory Characters. He is Nick of Nick’s Commercials and Guile in Street Fighter: The Later Years on the College Humor website. For links to Nick’s work go to:http://www.nickraio.com/. Nick can be contacted at nickraio@rcn.com. *

Eric Bondoc

as Kato

Broadway: Pacific Overtures. Favorites: Rizal, a one-person play about the Philippine National Hero; Where Elephants Weep, the first known Cambodian rock opera; Road Dreams, a cabaret about his 800-mile solo bicycle trip from Arizona to California; Ariel in The Tempest; title roles in M. Butterfly and Peter Pan. Regional Theatres include: The Guthrie; Actors Theatre of Louisville; The Alliance, The O’Neill; North Shore Music Theatre, Bay Street Theatre; Flat Rock Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse; Triad Stage, Sacramento Music Circus. *

Passion

(Director)

Passion has directed more than 30 productions and has been critically acclaimed as “creative” and “stunning.” As Artistic Director of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center Young Writers’ Workshop, she recently directed Just Imagine at NJPAC’s Victoria Theater. She directed Tony Award winner Melba Moore in Sweet Songs of the Soul at the Bermuda Festival and directed the cast of Real Black Men Don’t Sit Cross-Legged On The Floor to rave reviews and standing ovations. Under her guidance both productions received AUDELCO Awards. She is a private coach, educator and new filmmaker. Passion is the producer and director of DramaMamas! The Film, Black Women Theatre Directors in the Spotlight and Remembered. She welcomes your support of her feature-length documentary at dramamamasthefilm.org.

Nathan Ross Freeman

(Playwright)

Author, Director, Producer of the Independent Feature Film, Mr. Bones, the Official Selection of the following festivals: San Francisco Black, National Black Theatre, Indie Memphis, Southern Appalachian International Film (Best Drama/Edit), Black Disapora (Durham, NC), Cackalacky (Charlotte, NC), Sweet Auburn International Film Festival (Best Feature), and NYC Festivals. Francine, Official Selection of the New York Short Film Festival. Hannah Elias screenplay runner up at the 2005 San Francisco Black Film Festival Screenplay Contest. Awarded the 1997 North Carolina Arts Council Playwrights Fellowship for Hannah Elias. Founder of Montage Showcase Ensemble and Assegai Film Group. Mr. Freeman also teaches professional acting. He was awarded B.E.S.T. Outstanding Faculty as a member of the Intensive Writing Faculty teaching screenwriting/playwriting at the University of North Carolina. Currently Mr. Freeman is a member of the NC Humanities Speakers Bureau and Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Winston-Salem Youth Arts Institute. http://www.nathanrossfreeman.com/

Frenchie La’Vern

(Costume Designer & Cutter/Draper)

Frenchie graduated from North Carolina School of the Arts with a degree in Design and Production. During the last 10 years, Frenchie has worked in theater and film. She has enjoyed an ongoing professional affiliation with Nathan Ross Freeman since signing on as the Designer of costumes, hair and make up for Mr. Bones. Her most recent film credits are Lost Stallion: The Journey Home and Westerly, both do for release in 2008. Her most recent professional credits include Ethel Waters: His Eye Is On The Sparrow, starring Broadway veteran Jannie Jones, directed by Broadway veteran Mable Robinson and produced by the North Carolina Black Repertory Theatre. Regarding the NCBR, Frenchie has mounted the Black Nativity for seven seasons. Her work was also seen on productions by the Community Theater of Greensboro, Duke University, North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, and The Barn Dinner Theatre of Greensboro, the oldest continuously operating dinner theatre in America.

Thierry Saintine

(Stage Manager)

Thierry Saintine is a graduate of City College Theatre and Speech Program. He has made appearances on several New York City stages and screens and is determined to keep the arts and performing arts alive within and around him.

Nathan Ross Freeman's MR. BONES wins Best Drama at Sweet Auburn Film Fest!

Nathan Ross Freeman, author of HANNAH ELIAS, won Best Drama for MR. BONES at the Sweet Auburn Film Festival in downtown Atlanta. Congratulations, Nat!

Seats are going fast for AAPEX's Hannah Elias reading at the legendary Players Club in NYC June 17th. Leilani N. Bryant, direct from Broadway's The Color Purple, is starring in the titular role. RSVP ASAP to jazmn47@aol.com.

Broadway's The Color Purple's LEILANI N. BRYANT cast as the lead in HANNAH ELIAS 6/17 (NYC)

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Leilani N. Bryant
Leilani is a native of Jacksonville, Florida. She has performed in the Broadway musical The Color Purple. She has also performed in the Broadway musical Show Boat, a benefit concert for Carnegie Hall. Other accomplishments include featured vocalist for Music Under the Stars with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, as well as featured vocalist for the Florida Jasper Awards.

I am also honored that Nathan is going to use one of my original compositions as incidental music for HANNAH ELIAS, and I look forward to being in NYC to perform the music in conjunction with the reading, as well as to attend the opening night of Hershell Norwood's BILLIE'S BLUES at the Cherry Lane Theater, directed by T. Bankole.

Also on board for this event will be Winston Salem based costume designer Frenchie LaVern, who will present her costume renderings for Nathan's play.

This reading will take place at The Players Club at 7 pm on Tuesday, June 17. Seating is limited, so please let me know if you are planning to attend.

Jaz Dorsey
Artistic Director
AAPEX
(The African American Playwrights Exchange)
Nashville, Tennessee
615-837-8777
aapextv@gmail.com

Nathan Ross Freeman's HANNAH ELIAS reading at the PLAYERS CLUB June (NYC)

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AAPEX Celebrates JUNETEENTH with Nathan Ross Freeman's HANNAH ELIAS 6/17 (NYC)

On Tuesday, June 17th, AAPEX will recognize the annual observation of JUNETEENTH (June 19th) with a reading of Nathan Ross Freeman's stunning award-winning play HANNAH ELIAS. The reading will be directed by Passion and will include a presentation of the costume renderings of Frenchie LaVern. The reading will be held in on the main stage of The Players Club, 16 Gramercy Park South, NYC.

Nathan and Passion are both film makers whose work won awards at last year's Southern Appalachian International Film Festival.

We hope that you can plan now to join us for this exciting event.

Donations toward this project are welcome and can be made by sending a check to
Theater Resources Unlimited
309 W. 104th Street, ID
New York, New York
10025

Checks should be made out to TRU and marked "For AAPEX - HANNAH ELIAS."


Below is some information on Juneteenth.

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.
Later attempts to explain this two and a half year delay in the receipt of this important news have yielded several versions that have been handed down through the years. Often told is the story of a messenger who was murdered on his way to Texas with the news of freedom. Another, is that the news was deliberately withheld by the enslavers to maintain the labor force on the plantations. And still another, is that federal troops actually waited for the slave owners to reap the benefits of one last cotton harvest before going to Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. All or none of them could be true. For whatever the reason, conditions in Texas remained status quo well beyond what was statutory.

General Order Number 3
One of General Granger’s first orders of business was to read to the people of Texas, General Order Number 3 which began most significantly with: "The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer."

The reactions to this profound news ranged from pure shock to immediate jubilation. While many lingered to learn of this new employer to employee relationship, many left before these offers were completely off the lips of their former 'masters' - attesting to the varying conditions on the plantations and the realization of freedom. Even with nowhere to go, many felt that leaving the plantation would be their first grasp of freedom. North was a logical destination and for many it represented true freedom, while the desire to reach family members in neighboring states drove the some into Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Settling into these new areas as free men and women brought on new realities and the challenges of establishing a heretofore non-existent status for black people in America. Recounting the memories of that great day in June of 1865 and its festivities would serve as motivation as well as a release from the growing pressures encountered in their new territory. The celebration of June 19th was coined "Juneteenth" and grew with more participation from descendants. The Juneteenth celebration was a time for reassuring each other, for praying and for gathering remaining family members. Juneteenth continued to be highly revered in Texas decades later, with many former slaves and descendants making an annual pilgrimage back to Galveston on this date.